Just Another Saturday Night
by MtnGhostCat
Summary: Not sure if this is AU or What If. I'm going with the premise that Garrus is about 3 years younger than Shepard so they have started Basic at the same time. So young Shepard meets young Garrus under difficult circumstances. The rating is for swearing. Shepard is a paragon with a mouth on her. This wondrous Universe belongs to Bioware - I'm just playing with it.
1. Chapter 1

Just Another Saturday Night

 **Shepard**

It was unofficially, official – Private Jess Shepard hated Long Wall Space Station. A rusty, grizzled relic of the First Contact War – half way to the colony of Shanxi. During the war it had been a resupply and jumping off point for the Alliance.

According to their Sergeant – another rusty, grizzled relic of the First Contact War – it was the site of some of his finest moments. Shepard wasn't sure whether that meant he got laid, drunk, or in a fight or, more likely, all three and she wasn't going to ask.

Despite the many advances for women in the military it was still hard to be one of the few females in her group, then to be one of the shorter ones was no picnic. And she wasn't even going to get into her hair color. Flame red – a rare color these days. At least the legend? story? of a red head's temper had made the rounds, particularly after she decked one private who assumed that shower time was – _'if you got it – do tricks with it'_ time.

She might be from a farming colony that did not mean she was weak or naive – quite the contrary; but most people had a distorted notion of what it took to be a farmer. They thought it was easy, never giving a thought to the almost constant work and hours to make sure the crops and the animals were healthy. If they didn't thrive – you didn't eat.

And her father ( _she shuddered as she blocked the memories of how she'd last seen him_ ) had also insisted she do some training. He'd said it was because they lived out in the Terminus system and needed to be prepared. But now, looking back, she's began to suspect that John Shepard, a gentle giant of a man – good with kids and animals, had had some experience with the harsher realities of life. She didn't know whether it was Special Forces or Black Ops but he'd been a little better prepared than his neighbors.

In the end it hadn't mattered except that it had allowed her to survive. Sometimes she wondered, though, if being left alone in the universe had been a blessing or not.

"Alright, listen up privates." That was Sergeant Morton, one of the aforementioned First Contact relics. "I want you all back to the transport at 24 hundred hours. At 0101 hundred hours you are AWOL – am I understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir." The platoon of Privates shouted back at him.

"And try to stay on the Alliance levels." He went on.

"Sir, yes, sir." Came the chorus.

"Alright, dismissed." Just before they started to disperse like a spash of water. "And I had better not get a call from Station Security or you're gonna wish you got blown out an airlock."

Already breaking up into the little clicks and groups that had formed during the first part of basic, people acknowledged him but kept moving.

Shepard headed for her friends. A collection of the more oddball of the group. Cameron, a scrawny nerd with enough nervous energy for the whole platoon, Betts, quiet, dark and incredibly sneaky, Luce, big, loud, and boisterous, Timmons, plain, almost mousy looking with a frighteningly analytical mind, and Huston, tall and willowy with a model's good looks, and an ice cold core.

"Ready to go, Red?" That was Cameron, pushing his luck as usual.

"Cameron, I swear I'm going to hack your omni-tool and scramble your game stats if you don't stop calling me that." Shepard growled.

"You wouldn't dare?"

"Watch me." She retorted. "So, where are we headed? The Last Chance or Celebrations?" She was referring to the two bars they knew were frequented by the Alliance and considered 'safe'.

"Welll," Cameron drew the word out, nervously fidgeting. "We thought we'd go somewhere different, not so busy." Luce nodding her head vigorously in agreement.

Shepard eyed the two of them; usually they weren't so much in agreement. Cameron was a game geek/nerd and Luce was a party girl; but someplace that was less crowded sounded good.

"Lead on." She motioned for them to take point.

Twenty minutes later she was silently cursing herself for not having been more suspicious of the two as they were on an elevator heading down into the bowels of Long Wall. One place they shouldn't be going and that Shepard didn't want to go.

In the years after the war – the large cargo bays, training grounds, and dormitories for Alliance personnel had been abandoned, left to gather dust. But it was only a short time before others began to trickle in. First the traders – the small fry, then the larger more prosperous ones, after them came the adventurers, the mercs, and the free lancers; and pretty soon the lower parts of B-Wall had become an entity of it's own, separate from the Alliance half of the station.

It had also become a home/refuge/stopping over point for the non-humans. First the Salarians and the Asari, then the Volus not far behind, then very slowly, this was after all a relic of the First Contact War – the Turians. And, this being the main reason she didn't want to go there, the Batarians.

Her father had always told her that it was best to assume that a Batarian was a slaver no matter the situation. After reading some reports on the Hegemony she was inclined to agree.

Mindor was still too raw for her, though she pretended otherwise; because she didn't want to be Cat-6ed out. She could function around Batarians; but sometimes she was hit with bouts of rage that made her want to wipe them all out as viciously as possible. Other, fortunately, rare moments were of a crippling fear that paralyzed her for a few seconds – remnants of running from the slavers after watching her family and friends killed. They'd tried to take her; but her dad had taught her to use what was around her and those few that came after her in the chaos hadn't returned to their ships.

But the horror and the terror remained and sometimes surfaced.

"That's far enough." She exclaimed slapping the stop button for the elevator. Everyone else complained as the elevator bounced and rattled to a stop.

"Dammit Red," that was Luce. "What's your problem?"

"My problem is where the hell are we headed?" Shepard shot back. "Remember, we're suppose to stay on the Alliance levels. Down does NOT lead to the Alliance levels."

Cameron and Luce looked a touch embarrassed and she saw rueful grins on the other's faces.

"Oh so I'm the only one who didn't know about this plan?" She demanded.

"Well," That was Luce. "We didn't think you'd want to give it a go."

"You ever think I might have a good reason for that." Shepard was trying very hard to hold onto her temper. Very few people knew about Mindoir. The Brass and a couple of her instructors otherwise all anyone knew was that she was from a farming colony. There were enough of those to make Mindoir a less than obvious choice. And when she had bad dreams she'd managed, so far, to avoid mentioning anything about Mindoir.

"It's just for a little while, Shepard." That was Betts, pleading. She wondered who'd taught him about _'Puppy Dog Eyes'_.

"What bar do you want to go to?" She asked through gritted teeth.

"The DMZ." That was Luce, her face lighting up at the thought.

Shepard sighed, of course it would be the DMZ. A bar that existed on the edge between the two sections. So you found military and mercs, Alliance and aliens, and a bar that had….

She eyed them all sourly. "You all just want to go look at the Asari don't you?"

Luce giggled, the three boys went various shades of red, and Huston just smirked.

"Spare me horny Privates." She grumbled hitting the down button and sending the elevator on its way.

"And you're not curious?" Came an indistinct mutter out of the group.


	2. Chapter 2 - Slumming

_Hello All. This idea just popped up the other day and wanted to be told. Barely out of Basic Shepard and Garrus run into each other. Has somewhat more humor and somewhat more darkness than my other story - A Matter of Perspective. I hope you enjoy it. As always this universe and these characters belong to Bioware. Rated M for swearing mostly._

* * *

Slumming

 **Shepard**

As they got to the right level, Shepard noticed that someone had scratched in around the floor button – 'Here be aliens' with a skull and crossbones. That reinforced her feelings that this was a _bad_ idea.

She hit the stop button again just before the elevator got to the right floor.

"Red, damn it." That was Huston.

"Don't worry I'm not going to keep you from your fun." Shepard told her. "We just need to set some ground rules."

"What ground rules?" That was Luce, all primed to party. "We're gonna drink and look at Asari."

"We're not on Alliance levels, Luce. We need to stick together.." She looked at Betts who wouldn't meet her eyes, he'd wandered off before. "And not go off alone, ever."

Luce pouted at that.

"Luce, there could be slavers down here." Shepard said coldly. "You really want to hit that party?"

Luce thought for a moment then nodded, her face now also grim. "No. Good point, Red."

"We also need to keep a low profile so that Morton doesn't hear about us or we're going to know the intimate details of every latrine on base." That was Timmons. They all fervently agreed to that one.

At Shepard's suggestion they put on their fatigue jackets to hide their uniforms and insignia. Shepard also pulled a knit cap out of a pocket and stuffed her hair up under it. Her red hair would stand out like a beacon otherwise.

They finally left the safety of the elevator for the battered corridors that led to the old cargo bay where the DMZ was located.

There were several levels of cargo bays, the Long Wall having been a primary resupply station for Alliance forces.

Shepard stayed in the middle of the group. Less than happy to be here; but also aware that she couldn't just cut out and go back to the upper levels. One, she wanted to stick by her friends. Two, going off on her own was asking for trouble. Slavers were predators and like any predator they liked to find those separate from the herd, so to speak.

At least she didn't have to slouch to make herself look shorter, unlike Huston who was swearing under her breath. The brunette was well over six feet and with her 'toe stompers' on ( _she'd brought them along in a back pack)_ she was well over six and a half feet.

"Stop grousing, Nikki." That was Timmons. "It was your choice to put on those damn heels."

"Thought we were going someplace nice."

"Ha!" That was Cameron.

Then they came around the curve of the corridor and got their first look at the DMZ. A ramshackle building built onto/off of the skeletal remains of an old Alliance transport shuttle.

"That's the DMZ?"

That was Luce who didn't look like she wanted to party anywhere near the place.

Frankly just seeing the place was giving Shepard the creeps, like she could feel herself catching a case of Scale Itch just by looking at it.

"Hey, it's got to be better inside." That was Betts.

"You really saying that, Captain Clean?" Luce looked him up and down. "Man, you must be horny."

Betts went red and everyone else chuckled. Betts was the most fastidious of the group – hence his nickname.

The outside of the bar was fairly plain and there weren't too many people gathered around it.

Gathering their courage they walked confidently (Shepard wasn't sure about that) across the street and stepped inside.

Like a ripple going through the bar, various sets of eyes, one after another, briefly fixed on them, then after a second everyone went back to what or who they were doing.

"That was…disconcerting." Timmons commented and the others quietly agreed.

They made their way to a table near the front of the bar. Shepard wasn't the most fastidious of the group _(you don't last long as a farmer if you are)_ but even she didn't want to have much contact with the table or the seats. Sleazy would have been high class compared to this place.

Betts slid into the round booth with a wince and a muttered. "I hope my vaccinations are up to date."

"If they aren't – you'll know it soon enough." That was Luce signaling for service.

"Whose bright idea was this again?" Shepard grumbled trying to avoid a patch of something sticky on the table. Then she noticed the small roll of disposable hand towels affixed to the underside of the table. It took a second for her to realize what they were for.

"Ewwwwwww." She hissed as her elbows instantly shot up into the air and she tried not to touch anything.

"Betts came up with the plan." Huston told her.

"Then Betts dies when we get back after he pays to disinfect all our uniforms." Shepard growled.

"What will you have?" Came a raspy flanged voice and they looked up to find the bar tender, an older Turian standing there. They hadn't even heard him walk up. Like most Turians he wore armor; but he'd removed the arm pieces leaving only his ragged undersuit, cut up to his elbows, visible. Oddly, because she didn't think Turians were into that, he seemed to have a few multi-colored patterns adorning his arm scales – rather like tattoos.

"We'll have six Blue Thessan cocktails." That was Huston, showing off.

"You'll have one Levo beer each and then you're out of here." The bar tender crossed his arms and stared down at them. "I don't need the Alliance coming down on me for cadets being in the wrong place."

With that he stalked back to his post, slapping the hand of a Salarian trying to reach over the bar as he passed.

"I think." Shepard sighed. "Our cover is blown."

"We haven't said anything." Cameron complained.

"We're young, clean, and stupid looking…any other questions." That was Timmons obviously as irritated as Shepard.


	3. Chapter 3 - Unpopular

_Greetings. I hope you're enjoying this little story. Ick warning for a really nasty environment. Also watch for a cameo from our favorite Battlemaster. The Universe and main characters are all Biowares._

* * *

Unpopular

 **Shepard**

"Well, that was embarrassing." Huston sighed.

"Well, we're not exactly inconspicuous." Timmons replied They looked at each other, partially embarrassed and partially unsure of what to say.

Shepard spoke up. "Looks like it's back to Bar Badass 101."

There were a few choked snorts and chuckles as the bar tender came back and put six of the tiniest beer bottles she'd ever seen on the table. The look on his face dared them to say anything as he took the offered credit chit, slid it through the reader on his wrist and handed it back. He stalked back to the bar, smacking the same Salarian from before, in the back of the head as he passed.

Cameron had picked up his bottle and was turning it this way and that – studying it like some rare gem. "Do you think he could have found anything smaller?"

Luce took a slug out of her bottle and grimaced. "Urgh, it's warm and almost flat too."

"I don't think he wants us here." Shepard commented though secretly she was glad that this _'outing'_ was going to be cut short.

"Not fair." Betts complained eyeing the Asari across the room. He caught the eye of one who smirked/sneered at him and went back to 'exercising' her talents for a Turian in blue and white armor.

"Blue Suns." Timmons looked the guy over.

"Blue Suns?" That was Cameron trying to nurse his tiny beer as long as possible.

"One of the three biggest merc companies." Timmons explained. "Blue Suns, Eclipse, and Blood Pack."

"How do you know that?" Cameron exclaimed.

"We studied it in class, idiot." Came the sarcastic reply. "I know it's not a game but it could mean your life one day." He stared at Betts, "and I wouldn't challenge that Turian for the Asari."

"I..I'm not challenging him." Betts protested.

"You're staring at her and for some Turians that's enough to be considered a challenge." Timmons explained. Just then the Turian in question stood up and they all froze, thinking he was coming over to their table to start something; but he just whispered something in the Asari's ear that made her giggle and headed for a back hallway.

After a second there was a mass sigh of relief.

"Okay kiddies, let's get out of here." Timmons chugged his beer and gagged. "Damn, that's foul."

"You can certainly tell how highly they think of the Alliance here." Shepard decided to pass on her beer. She might have wanted to get buzzed; but not sick to her stomach. Luce looked at her then the beer and Shepard nodded. The younger girl grabbed it and chugged it.

"Luce, you're part Krogan you know that." Huston exclaimed. "Or you've got a steel plated stomach."

Luce gave a faint burp and grinned. "Good genes."

"Krogan genes." Cameron muttered under his breath but Luce ignored him.

"We ready?" Timmons had already unstuck himself from the seat and gotten out of the booth.

Huston got up and looked around. The rest of them groaned at that, knowing what it meant.

"Geez, Nikki, already." Betts complained.

"It was the beer." She protested.

"No, it's your teeny tiny little bladder." Cameron again muttered under his breath. Huston gave him a death glare that promised later retribution. And she was a master of 'revenge is a dish best served cold'.

Nikki started to head for what was probably the restrooms; but could have been anything given this place.

"Hold it Huston." Shepard scrambled out of the booth, cringing briefly as she put her hand down on some sort of caked substance. "I'm coming with."

"It's just the bathroom, Red." Came the protest.

"We go nowhere alone." Shepard reminded her as she caught up.

"Worry wart." Huston grumbled under her breath.

"Cautious." Shepard shot back as they made their way past the bar. The bar tender eyed them but didn't react otherwise. The hallway they were aiming for was small, relatively structurally sound – obviously some part of the shuttle that was still intact. Dimly lit and it smelled.

"Do you REALLY need to do this now?" Shepard was wondering if she should breath through her handkerchief to avoid inhaling what she suspected might be actual chunks of _something._

"Yeah." Huston had to semi pull open the slide door of the ladies – with a barely recognizable universal symbol on it. There was all sorts of rude graffiti scratched on the sign that they ignored.

"Don't sit down." Shepard yelled after her. "Or touch anything…or breath."

There was a mumble from behind the now closed door that Shepard thought was agreement but wasn't sure.

She went to lean against the wall in the small, foul smelling hallway but thought better of it after a close look at the matted and crusted surface. She didn't even want to know what some of the lumps were, particularly since some of them seemed to be trying to relocate. She tried to look nonchalant but knew she wasn't succeeding.

To make matters worse, the mens was down a nearby side corridor and it was getting a lot of traffic and herself a lot of looks. Some curious; but a lot more of them were appraising, and not in a good way. The latter made her nervous and like a cat she tried to make herself look dangerous. Or, at least, look hard and dangerous. She was fairly sure she was failing miserably at that also.

She heard the metal grate floor creak behind her and she spun, hand going to the combat knife she'd slipped into a pocket in her fatigues. She came face to chest with a wall of battle scared armor. Her eyes traveled upwards to the broad, craggy, non-smiling face of a red Krogan.

He looked her over like a side of meat, first one eye then turning his head to use the other eye. Remembering what she'd read of Krogans she returned the favor.

"What are you looking at, whelp?" His voice sounded like thunder in the mountains.

She crossed her mental fingers and replied.

"You." She kept it a simple statement.

"And why is that?" There was an edge of menace to his deep voice now.

"Never really seen a Krogan before." She admitted truthfully, with a shrug, remembering that Krogans liked bravery and audacity. _(She wondered how they felt about stupidity and foolhardiness.)_ She also knew with his sense of smell that he already knew she was nervous and probably Alliance also.

His big red eyes widened and after a long moment he began to chuckle. It was like hearing an earthquake laugh.

"Got a quad on you, whelp, I'll give you that."

"Thanks…I think." She told him remembering that Krogans had four testicles.

Then the chuckle died and he motioned to the hallway.

"You here alone?"

"No, waiting on a friend." She indicated the bathroom door, just then noticing something small, brown and multi-legged skittering through a gap.

"Smart." The Krogan paused then bend his large head down till it was beside her ear. "Watch your step, Alliance. Mercs and slavers out there." He said as quietly as a Krogan could.

"Thanks for the heads up." She whispered back, sure he could hear her. Straightening up, he gave her a sharp nod and turning very adroitly for such a large individual, made his way back to the main part of the bar. She was surprised that the confrontation had gone so easily.

Just then she heard. "Ewwwwwwwww." And Huston came running out of the bathroom as fast as the sticky door would permit.

"Nikki?"

Huston desperately brushed at her fatigues. "Bugs, all sorts of bugs." Shepard nodded in understanding and headed towards the others. She did slip to the far wall as she passed the corridor leading to the mens, Huston instinctively following her lead. Fortunately there was a lull in bathroom traffic and they got past without incident.

When they got out to the main bar, everyone was grouped together ready to go but…

"Where's Betts?" Shepard sighed.

"Over there." Luce pointed to where their friend was talking with some guy that looked like a computer clerk.

"Timmons you better go get him." Shepard told him.

With a nod Timmons walked over to their friend. Just as he got there, Betts excitedly shook the hand of his new friend and followed Timmons back to the group.

"Betts, what did I tell you about wandering off." Shepard crossed her arms over her chest.

"I was still in sight, Red." He protested. "We ready to go."

Everyone nodded and they all headed for the door. Shepard held her breath as they hit the doorway. _(In the vids wasn't it here that the good guys always ran into the bad guys and trouble started.)_ Fortunately no one was making a vid and they got outside without incident.

"Hey, I know a short cut." That was Betts, taking point.

Shepard wasn't paying attention as she had begun to get that hair standing up on the back of the neck feeling that meant that someone was watching her. Mindoir had triggered some sort of _'spider sense'_ in her and she could often tell when somebody, with ill intent, was watching her.

She'd hesitantly mentioned it to the doctors; but since it didn't seem to fire up in testing situations they hadn't been able to gauge if it was real or some sort of odd after effect of the attack.

Lost in trying to figure out who was eyeing them she didn't notice, at first, that Betts had taken a different route. When she finally did.

"What the hell?" She suddenly realized this was not the way to the elevators. "Betts, where are you going?"

"Someplace you'll like, Red." He exclaimed happily.

"The only place I'll like is the inside of an elevator." She trotted to try to catch up with him and get them back on track.


	4. Chapter 4 - Wrong Time

_Greetings Good Readers. I know I should be working on my other ME fic; but dealing with confrontations over there so I'm hiding out by working on Just Another Saturday Night. I hope you're enjoying this tale. No Reaper angst…yet. Just other drama. As always I appreciate everyone who has faved this or is following it or who takes time to review or comment. If you find anything wrong let me know._

* * *

Wrong Time

 **Shepard**

Unfortunately with his long legs, Betts was able to stay far enough ahead that she couldn't get to him unless she ran. And you didn't run in a place like this – too easy to be misinterpreted and get you shot.

They didn't get on another elevator; but they were now following a curved hallway around the outside of the area. It was cleaner and also quieter than the area around the DMZ. At the back of her mind she realized that meant less people and somehow that concerned her.

Then as they came around the turn of a curve she saw a large sign on the wall that about made her trip. **TuFTAC.** She knew that word; most Alliance veterans of the First Contact knew that word; dreaded it and revered it at the same time. She glanced at the others, only Timmons looked as awed as she did, though for different reasons.

Up ahead was a small door, the lock green. Eager to see this slice of history, she ignored the little warning jolt that green lock gave her.

"Betts," That was Luce. "What the hell is this place? Why are we here?"

Betts threw open the doors and the lights clicked on in waves across a large cargo hold. A cargo hold filled with the mother of all obstacle courses. This was T **uFTAC** or **Turian Field Training Assault Course** and it had been used to train Alliance soldiers to take on the Hierarchy's best. Long Wall's **TuFTAC** was a legend among Alliance personnel. The longest, most difficult course in military history – set up that way because no one knew much about the Turians except that they came from a militaristic culture; and soldiers needed to be prepared.

Well nothing could have prepared the humans for the reality of the Turians; but Long Wall's course tried, and in some cases succeeded. A modified version of it was now used in N7 training. Sissified she'd heard some First Contact veterans call it.

A Turian general, visiting after the peace treaty, had been visibly impressed by it.

As they came in the door, Shepard stopped in awe. Even half cannibalized for materials the old abandoned obstacle course was amazing. In fact the torn up jumps and combat environments actually lent themselves to her favorite form of exercise.

Cameron took one look and groaned. "Ah hell, Red's gonna be doing the Pyjak polka thing."

"It's parkour you idiot." Shepard growled. "And if you compare me to an alien space monkey one more time your pack of War Varren is about to become a wheezing mob of hyper caffeinated Chihuahuas."

"NO, not my War Varren." Cameron exclaimed in true horror. The others laughed. Sometimes Cameron seemed more vested in his gaming universes than in reality.

Timmons looked around in amazement. "I knew it was big, but..." He trailed off.

"About the biggest one ever." Shepard stepped over to pull on a rope net strung up the side of the hold leading to a boarded over duct. Shepard knew that it took up all of one cargo hold with arms that snaked into the levels above and below it.

"Yeah I get it big. But why the hell are we here, Betts?" That was Cameron, he was the least physical of their group. Shepard was certain that there was a transfer to a tech research group somewhere in his future.

"I was told a bunch of Asari Commandos likes to use this place to practice." Betts grinned. Damn but the boy was horny, Shepard scowled and then had a closer look around the place.

"Betts, who told you that?" She was getting a squirmy cold feeling in her stomach.

"Guy I ran into at the bar." Betts told her, confused by her tone.

"Damn." Shepard and Timmons ran for the door at the same time. They pulled it open just in time to see the lights in the hallway go off. Wasting no time they pulled the door shut, manually locking it as best they could.

"Cameron, hack that lock so no one can get it open." Shepard ordered. When the game geek hesitated. "NOW!" Cameron moved as the others looked puzzled.

"Red, what's your problem?" That was Betts looking bewildered as did Luce, but a look of realization was dawning on Huston's face.

"It's a trap." She hissed.

That cold squirmy feeling in Shepard's stomach solidified into a block of ice and for a second it was hard to catch her breath then she snapped out of it.

"Yeah and Captain Horny here led us right into it." Timmons snarled as he was studying the room. He looked to Shepard and jerked his head towards a couple of boarded up ducts. "Ducts?"

"Only chance but some lead up and some lead down."

"Done!" Cameron stepped back from the door. The lock now red.

"Quick, pull open as many duct covers as you can." Shepard swarmed up the rope net and yanked on the old plywood covering the duct. It pulled free with a screech and crashed to the ground nearly hitting Betts. In a way she was sorry that she missed.

"Camouflage." Timmons explained at the others odd looks, wrestling open a duct at ground level.

Without further commands the others all ran for a duct or ducts and got as many of them open as they could.

About then the door lock gave out a whine and the red light wavered then went steady again.

"Times up." Shepard headed for the far side of the room and the still closed ducts.

"Pick one, get it open and close it after you." She ordered. Stopping in front of one at waist level she carefully wiggled it open. When she looked around, Timmons, who'd run past her, had gotten one at floor level open and was shooing Luce, Huston and Betts in ahead of him.

He crawled in but then couldn't get the plywood closed again.

Shepard shot a quick look at the still red lock and raced over to his duct. She slammed her body against the plywood and Timmons was finally able to secure it.

When she looked around Cameron was still outside of her duct, caught out by everything. She'd meant for them to follow Timmons and the others; but now had to run and grab Cameron by the collar and literally drag him to the duct she'd opened and throw him in. She jumped in after him and pulled the plywood shut, anchoring it with a chunk of rope net hanging from the outside.

Cameron had gotten over his shock and managed to move down the duct. It was dim and dusty but it was a hell of a lot safer than being outside.

Shepard wanted to clamber after him but just then the door gave with an audible pop and banged open; and she knew that she needed to go quiet.

She could just see Cameron at the bend of the duct and she motioned him to be quiet as she heard people storm into the room.

She picked up human and Turian voices and, she shivered afraid she'd hear a Batarian.

"Where in Spirits name are they?" That was a Turian. Shepard wondered if it might be the Blue Suns they'd seen earlier.

"I sent 'em down here." Came a weasely little voice that she would have bet belonged to Betts's 'source'.

"They're not here now."

"They have been." One of the humans said. "Look at the ducts."

"I am." That was the Turian and he was furious. "Little pyjaks have gone into one of them.

"Looks like we've lost them." That was weasel again.

"No, someone's going to find them." The Turian snarled and a minute later she heard a commotion and a pained cry as, if she had to guess, the Turian had picked up the scrawny human and hurtled him into the first open duct he found.

"You skull faced bastard." Came the echoing cry.

"Find them." The Turian ignored the racist comment. "Or I'll lock you in there."

There was a lot more echoing swearing that got fainter.

"You want us to check the other ducts?" That was one of the other Turians.

"No. I want you to go station yourself where these ducts end up." Came the heavily flanged answer.

"Some of 'em go up, boss, into the Alliance levels."

"Then cover the ones you can." Came the snarl. "No one challenges me."

Shepard sighed. It was the Blue Suns merc they'd seen earlier and he had taken Betts stare as a challenge. If/when they got out of this she was going to take this out of Betts's hide.

She heard what she thought was most of the mercs leaving; but knew better than to stick her head out or even consider going back into the room. They'd have someone keeping an eye on the place, waiting for just that.

Just then her omni-tool vibrated. Wary, she looked at the sender's ID before she opened it. It was from Timmons. He'd sent a silent text message to her.

' _You guys okay?'_

 _'Yes'_ , She typed back, also sending her message in silent text. _'Can't go back out, waiting.'_

 _'Go through ducts?'_

 _'Only up ones. Mercs by down.'_

 _'Roger. Alliance levels only_.'

 _'Roger. Find Morton, get help_.'

There was a pause then. _'Latrines, here we come.'_

She gave a faint snort then. _'Tell Betts he's dead when next we meet.'_

 _'Get in line. Be safe, be cautious.'_

 _'Roger.'_

They needed to find an arm that led to the upper levels so she and Cameron moved deeper into the ducts/tunnels, searching for the tunnels to the upper levels; but to her dismay they kept on going down.


	5. Chapter 5 - Right Place

_And now the other half of our interspecies dynamic duo joins the party. **Trigger warning for beating and injury**. As always many thanks to those of you who have faved, followed, or are leaving reviews._

* * *

Right Place

 **Shepard**

After crawling what seemed like hours but was probably barely even one, they'd paused to catch their breaths and rest their hands. They hadn't run into anything living. A few rat _(at least she hoped they were rat)_ skeletons but that was sort of okay. She shuddered at the idea of running into a Turian rat or even worse – a roach. An armor plated roach…urgh her mind recoiled as her too vivid imagination conjured up that horror.

She forced her mind back to the matter at hand. Safely escaping these tunnels, and the mercs, and getting back to the Alliance levels. By now she was actually looking forward to cleaning latrines.

Suddenly she caught a strong smell of musk, metallic odors, and other, less savory, scents. Curious, she quietly followed her nose to a short duct that led to a barely closed off gate to the lower level. The decades old piece of plywood was warped and cracked, a ratty piece of tarp tacked over it. As she crawled closer she heard loud voices cheering and jeering. She picked up human voices; but also the flanged tones of Turians.

Motioning Cameron to stay behind her she cautiously found a rip in the tarp she could see through.

She was looking down on what once must have been a sparring ring. In it were two Turians going at it with all the ferocity the species was known for.

After a second, she realized that that was wrong. One Turian – biggest damn one she'd ever seen was basically beating the snot out of a far smaller Turian. Given his size, lack of height and breath, and fringe she was inclined to think that the small one was actually a youngster – perhaps a teenager.

She couldn't make out his; she was assuming it was male, face because he was wearing some sort of mask that hid his whole head with barely any openings for eyes, nose and mouth. It was a black matt plastic fastened with a heavy metal collar. _(Turians were into Lucha Libre?)_

Despite being outclassed in experience, size, and weight – the little guy was desperately trying to fight back, but every time he did the bigger Turian just hit him harder and dirtier.

There might not be a First Contact War anymore; but Shepard had seen the manuals for front line soldiers that showed how and where to attempt to disable/incapacitate a Turian. And the big one was whaling away at several of those spots. She suspected that the only reason that Scrappy ( _he was doggedly trying to fight_ ) hadn't been kicked in the nuts was because Turians kept all that internal.

Just then an alarm went off. For a second, she was afraid it meant there'd been a hull breach; then she realized that it was the _stand to stations_ alert. She could only hear one going off so she figured it wasn't the whole station.

"Shepard, what's happening."? Cameron nervously hissed from behind her.

Down below at the first sound of the alarm everybody scattered for the exit. The big Turian disdainfully hurled Scrappy up against the partition of the ring. Scrappy didn't get up; but she could hear his desperate wheezing even over the alarm.

"I think they've rigged some sort of alert." She hissed back. "Station Security must be headed here."

"Rescue finally." Cameron began but she hushed him with a waving hand.

"Gojin! " Came a voice from down below that made Shepard freeze. She recognized those vocal tones; they were seared into her memory with blood…Batarian.

"What Meskin?" That was the Turian, wiping the blood from his plates.

She heard the fence around the sparring ring creak as someone jumped over it. Shortly the Batarian came into view as he walked over to Scrappy. He bent down and lifted the boy's head. Instinctively Scrappy tried to strike at him, but the Batarian just shoved him into the fence.

"Damn, you've near killed him."

"Oh, he'll last a while longer." Gojin's voices were as harsh as his behavior. "I know what I'm doing."

"You'd better. I need to get something back for the risk we took kidnapping him."

Shepard swallowed hard at hearing that Scrappy was a victim not an out matched competitor.

"Stop whining Meskin." Gojin was unimpressed. "You knew who we were going after."

"Talk about that later. We've got to hide the kid before Security gets here. They know we use this area but one look at him and they'll haul us in." Meskin was serious.

Gojin glanced around and seemed to stare right into Shepard's eyes. Her breath caught in her throat for a second then she realized he was looking at the duct. She motioned desperately to Cameron behind her with one hand, as she started moving backwards. Meanwhile Gojin had grabbed Scrappy by his cowl. Shepard was sure she heard it creaking, meaning it was damaged. Oddly the boy didn't make any sounds, though his breathing got more ragged.

"What are you going to do?" Shepard heard the Batarian ask as she and Cameron scuttled out of sight into a nearby branching passageway.

"I'll stuff him in the duct." They heard the rattling of metal, and the rustling of the tarp, and a groaning crack as the plywood was yanked aside.

Shepard and Cameron tensed, afraid that the Batarian or the Turian would climb into the tunnel to get Scrappy in here; but there was a grunt from Gojin followed by a series of thuds and bangs as he threw Scrappy into the duct.

"There's no where to go pyjak, so don't try to run off." Gojin spat in at him then forced the so-called gate back into place.

"Just wish we could have grabbed the daughter." Shepard heard faintly as the two walked away. She shuddered at the thought of a female in Gojin's hands.

In a few moments the main lights in the room were shut off, leaving only some dim amber safety lights. She heard the door to the chamber close, there was a clunk and even more ominously she saw the red glow of a lock reflected off the duct wall.

She swore under her breath then she heard a scrabbling sound. Instantly she was out of the side tunnel and into the main tunnel where Scrappy was struggling desperately to drag himself forward.

Now with the alarm off and the crowd gone she could pick up some oddly faint whines from him. Not thinking she reached out and touched his shoulder.

Instantly he tried to lash out, fortunately the darkness of the tunnel threw his aim off so she was easily able to avoid him.

"Easy, kid. We're here to help." She backed away and waited for him to calm down. Even injured he could still do serious damage with his talons.

"Are you crazy?" Cameron spoke up. "They're gonna come back for him."

Shepard turned on him angrily. "Didn't you hear – he was kidnapped, it's our duty to get him to safety."

"You and your soft heart." Cameron muttered.

"Why the hell do you think we're in the military?" She tossed back at him. "It's to protect the innocent and those who can't fight."

"He's Turian, they can fight."

"He's a boy, Del. Probably not even as old as we are, being beaten on by the Turian equivalent of Godzilla ."

Ignoring Cameron she turned back to the Turian, who'd stopped struggling and was, near as she could tell, watching them. She activated her omni-tool. It was a simple model for those in basic and while it couldn't get out a signal inside the station; it, at least, could provide some light.

By its glow she got her first really close look at Scrappy. He was scrawny by Turian standards, probably hadn't gotten his last growth spurt yet. She'd heard they put weeds to shame when that happened. He had silver grey plates, many cracked and a few near broken with greyish tan skin underneath, what skin wasn't almost black from bruises.

The weird mask covered the front of his head – his stubby fringe sticking out the back. She could see the mask moving in and out around the small hole for his mouth as he sucked in air, his chest pumping up and down like a bellows. Then she got a good look at the metal collar holding it down and cursed.

"Damn, Del that's a Varren control collar – gonna need your mad skills here."

Despite his reticence, Cameron slid over to her side immediately, also activating his omni-tool.

"He gonna let me touch him?" Cameron had pulled his small, every present, tool kit from his fatigues; but wasn't moving. A smart move given Scrappy's earlier reaction.

"Hey kid." Shepard ducked her head down so she could look him in the eyes, though she only could see them shining faintly inside the mask. "We're going to hack that collar but we need to touch you to do it. You okay with that? Hell, do you even understand me?"

His head moved from her to Cameron then back again and he finally nodded. Dropping his head onto his arm in a way that made it easier for Cameron to get at his neck.

Despite his early complaints, Cameron first gently ran a finger around the inside of the collar. The Turian inhaled sharply.

"Crap."

"What is it?"

"The electrodes are inset into his neck."

"Hell, no wonder he's silent. Can you shut it down?" Shepard cursed inwardly.

"Yeah, we just won't be able to remove the collar – that'll take a surgeon."

"Do it, and make sure it can't be reactivated or tracked." She ordered him. "I'll get this mask off."

Pulling out a small penknife she usually kept with her she set to work while Cameron carefully opened the control module on the collar. Varren control collars were pretty old school and required a hands on approach.

The mask was made of some odd plastic but her knife was sharp. Though she had to move around him and avoid Cameron to completely free it from his head, it only took a short while. Once she did she found a further horror in that they had forced some sort of muzzle into his mouth. It kept his jaws closed with only a small opening to allow air or anything else in. His mandibles, swollen and bruised were the anchor points for the muzzle but, at least, otherwise looked untouched. Gingerly she cut the muzzle free and removed it. He gasped, finally able to fully open his mouth, and took in a deep gulp of air.

Knowing better than to disturb Cameron she sat back and waited. It took her friend only a few minutes more to work his tech magic then he carefully closed the control module up.

She noticed that the ready light was still lit.

"Cameron?"

"It's just for show so no one knows the collar has been disabled."

"So you are good for something besides computer games."

"Har and har."

Shepard turned her attention back to the young Turian. She saw moisture drying on his facial plates obviously from the mask. His plates still looked a bit soft, not the hard delineations of an adult. He finally met her eyes straight on and she was surprised at their color. An odd iridescent blue grey.

She looked for Colony marks but didn't see any; but his facial plates looked rough and irritated. She wondered if they'd removed his marks so no one would recognize him. What she did see was a thin trickle of blood leaking from his lower nose plate.

She had an old handkerchief in one pocket and she pulled it out and went to wipe his nose with it. He jerked his head back and she heard a faint whine out of him.

"Easy there Scrappy, I won't hurt you." She said softly and held up the rag. "Just mopping up the blood."

He gave a faint nod and rested his head back on his arm as she gently wiped up the blood. He closed his eyes and she saw a shudder run through his body. The kid had been put through hell; but that he was still moving was impressive.

Pulling her backpack around she got out a small emergency packet of water. She always kept a couple of those, and a couple of ration bars with her. Scrappy was dextro so she couldn't give him the ration bars but the water was fine.

"You want some water?"

At that his eyes shot open and he grabbed for the packet only to hiss as he tried to move his arm.

"Take it easy." She reassured him. "I'll help." She pulled the built in straw free and pushed it into the packet. Then she realized there was a problem. Scrappy's mouth wasn't built like a humans and the straw wouldn't work for him; and if she just poured the water in, he'd choke given his current position.

"Del, help him sit up. I have to pour the water into his mouth." She looked at the young Turian. "Hey, you're going to have to be upright or you'll choke. My friend will help you."

Scrappy looked from her to Del. He finally nodded and let Del help him get upright. There were a couple of more whines and a long drawn out hiss at one point. The bigger Turian had done a lot of damage to him.

After Del leaned him against the wall, he sat for several moments, head down, just panting. Shepard cringed at that, wishing she could do more to help. When he finally seemed to ease.

"You okay now?"

He glanced up and nodded.

"I'm going to use the straw to pour the water into your mouth. Stop me if it isn't working."

"You sure that's safe with his teeth." Cameron said pointing out the needle sharp teeth that all Turians possessed.

"What choice do I have, Del. Kid needs water." She was getting fed up with Cameron's attitude then she remembered that he'd lost family in the First Contact War. Helping a Turian probably wasn't high on his list of priorities.

Very carefully she maneuvered so she could let the water slowly run into his mouth. The first mouthful he sputtered and sprayed them with and she stopped.

"Wasn't looking for a spit shower." Cameron grumbled.

She ignored him and glanced at Scrappy who wouldn't meet her eyes and she realized that he was embarrassed.

"Too fast?"

He nodded, still not looking up.

"Okay, let's try this again. Drop your head just a bit then it won't run down so fast."

He did as she asked and her second try was successful. She was careful to let him swallow the small amount she dribbled in before she gave him more. He seemed to be having some trouble keeping his head up so she gently put a hand under his chin to help him. He was surprisingly warm and his mandibles tickled as they twitched against her hand.

In no time he'd finished the whole packet. She was sure he wanted more; but she wanted to hold onto her other packets till later.

He leaned back against the tunnel wall with a sigh.

"Better?"

He nodded, his eyes meeting hers. This was the first time she'd really been this close to a Turian and the personality and intelligence behind those eyes was amazing.

"So why'd you get grabbed?" She asked. He tilted his head sideways at that. She realized that was the gesture for confusion.

"Kidnapped." She supplied.

"Red." Cameron spoke up. "Shouldn't we be moving away from here."?

Shepard was going to complain when she realized that he was right. "Thanks Del." To the Turian. "Are you going to be able to move?"

She could see him moving his arms, shoulders and body around. There were a few hisses, whines, and a couple of indrawn breaths, but he finally nodded.

"You tell me if it hurts too bad." She told him. "Del, bring up the rear. I'll take point and we'll keep Scrappy in the center."

She got another one of those tilted head maneuvers at her nickname.

"Scrappy," She explained. "Someone who fights hard even if they're out matched." He seemed to hum at that, and after a second nodded.

Turning around she started this joint Alliance/Hierarchy force on its way.


	6. Chapter 6 - Can't Get There From Here

_Greetings Good Readers. I hope you're having a good day. I also hope you're still enjoying this story. I also hope I've managed to capture a Shepard that hasn't quite become the bad ass we all know and love. She's working on it, but has a ways to go. I also want to thank, as always, all those who have faved, followed, are reading, or have commented on this story. You make my day. May it be a great one._

* * *

Can't Get There From Here

 **Shepard**

If their progress had been slow before; now it was glacial. Between Scrappy's injuries _(Shepard was trying to monitor that, but it was hard when he was behind her),_ and her and Cameron's hands getting tired, sore, and cut from the floor of the ducts – a snail could have outrun them.

They stayed fairly quiet, unsure if anyone was listening, and afraid that sound would travel in the ducts/tunnels. Though Shepard was hard pressed not to collapse laughing when Cameron accidentally put his hand on/through a rat skeleton. She hadn't thought his voice could hit that high a note.

The Turian jerked around with a startled chirp at that.

"It's okay Scrappy." She reassured him quietly. "Just Del shrieking like a little girl."

"I heard that." Came the sullen mutter.

Scrappy glanced at her as he turned back around.

"He's fine." Then she noticed that the young Turian was panting. He was struggling to hide it; but she could hear it.

"You need to rest?"

Scrappy shook his head at that but she'd caught the way his eyes squeezed tighter momentarily in pain.

"Let's take a rest." She slapped her backpack. "We'll share a packet of water."

Scrappy nodded eagerly at that and soon the three of them were sitting together. Scrappy diagonally across from them so he could stretch out his long legs.

As she prepared the water packet she took a moment to study the young Turian. She was use to; everyone was use to, seeing them in armor. Scrappy was just wearing the remains of civilian clothing, and not much of that. The other Turian had about shredded it off of him.

Shepard took a few sips but mostly shared the water between Scrappy and Cameron. Then she squeezed what little residue there was out of the packet onto her jacket sleeve and used it to clean her hands as best she could. _(What she wouldn't give for some medi-gel.)_ Once done she handed it to Cameron who did the same. When she went to offer it to Scrappy, though a different part of her sleeve so there was no chirality contamination, she found he was leaning back against the wall of the tunnel, eyes closed. At least he wasn't panting as much.

"What are we going to do with him, Red?" Cameron spoke up.

"When…" She began and he cut her off.

"If…" She glared at him and he wisely shut up.

"When we get back to the Alliance they can contact the Hierarchy about him."

At the mention of the Hierarchy, Scrappy's eyes came open and he looked at them intently.

"He recognized that." Cameron commented.

"All Turians are part of the Hierarchy, Del." Shepard said.

"Not mercs from what I understand; and some of the colonies aren't either." To their surprise Scrappy nodded in agreement. It always amazed Shepard what tidbits of information could get stuck in the very odd corners of Cameron's mind. Must be the result of all those cheezy snacks he had snuck onto base.

"They get you on Palaven?" Del asked. Scrappy shook his head no. Shepard was also surprised that he understood the human tongue fairly well, that spoke to him having some sort of regular contact with humans, and a good translator.

"One of the colonies?" Cameron persisted.

Again the negative shake.

"The Citadel?" Shepard suggested and got a nod in agreement.

"They trying for you?" Del asked. Scrappy cocked his head in what she was learning was a questioning gesture.

"Were you their target or someone else?" She explained.

Instead of a nod or a shake, the Turian hummed for a second then pointed to himself and shook his head. Then he touched a cut on his arm that was seeping blood with a finger, and held his bloodied hand out to them.

"They wanted your blood!" Cameron exclaimed. "What are we dealing with – Turian vampires?" Scrappy pulled his hand back quickly looking thoroughly confused.

Then it hit her. "They wanted someone of his blood, his family." She spoke up and Scrappy looked to her and nodded, in relief she thought making her wonder what Cameron's comment had translated out to in Turian.

"You specifically or to hurt your family?"

Once again he pointed to himself and shook his head.

"To hurt your family then." Suddenly she remembered something. "They talked about a female."

At that Scrappy looked alarmed, scared even and began to try to get up.

She got a hand on his arm to stop him and reassure him. "No, easy. They didn't get her. She's safe, she's safe."

After a moment of futile struggling, he was still very weak, he relaxed and eased back, but he was panting again.

Shepard and Cameron just let him calm down, which fortunately didn't take too long.

"Hey, what's with his claws?" Cameron had been studying Scrappy's hands where they were resting on his legs while they waited.

Shepard looked where he was pointing. She wasn't sure in the dim light of the duct but Scrappy's talons looked oddly thick and misshapen.

"I don't know." She went to touch his hands and he quickly shifted them away from her and she heard a clic from him.

"Hey, not going to hurt you." She was surprised.

"Maybe it's a Turian thing." Del spoke up and Shepard colored faintly, not having considered that.

"Oh, yeah hadn't thought about that." Shepard met Scrappy's eyes. "I'm sorry? I just want to check your claws."

Scrappy studied her for a few moments then finally, hesitantly, held out one hand. She carefully put her hand under his and lifted it up so she could more clearly see it. Each talon had been wrapped in….

"Damn, they've put duct tape on them." She told Cameron. At Scrappy's quizzical head tilt.

"Heavy duty tape used for everything." She explained to him and then looked at Cameron. "How do you explain duct tape to a Turian."?

"'It binds the galaxy together…'" Cameron began to intone and she smacked him on the shoulder. "Stop with the Sci-Fi references, nerd."

"Owww." When she threatened him again he leaned away from her. "Okay, okay. Damn you're mean."

"And you're annoying."

Scrappy had been watching this with a puzzled look then suddenly he let out a soft chuff.

"He okay?" Cameron asked.

Something about Scrappy's face gave her the clue and she let out a faint snort.

"I think he's laughing at us." She eyed the young Turian who made a point of not meeting her gaze.

"Yup, laughing." She went back to looking at his claws. "Smart ass." She muttered under her breath.

From the looks of the tape, Scrappy had been trying to cut it off but with his claws taped, he couldn't; and he couldn't get purchase on it with his fingers.

"I can cut it off with my knife, but I'm going to need more light so I don't cut him." She said releasing his hand. He quickly put it back in his lap.

"Looks like there's a junction down there." Cameron pointed past her to an area ahead of them where more light was shining down. It was just past some stuff that looked like refuse from the obstacle course. She wasn't even going to think about how it had gotten in here. Hard to know what had gone on here for the past decade or more.

"Good idea." Shepard turned to Scrappy. "Make your way down to the lighted area and I'll cut the tape off of your claws."

He nodded and carefully got onto his hands and knees. Given the way Turians were built, crawling wasn't exactly easy for him. Given the occasional hisses and catches in his breathing it probably also hurt.

Shepard and Cameron followed behind. Scrappy had almost gotten to the junction, Shepard behind him. She was passing a chunk of chain link fencing, pipes and wooden beams when her hand pushed down on something that gave. Suddenly there was a sharp clang and something hit her in the back with enough force to throw her forward. She twisted, barely missing Scrappy's backside but still knocking him over and they both tumbled to the floor.

"Hey!" She heard Cameron yelp behind her.

She scrabbled to her feet and turned around. The chunk of pipe and chain link fence had become a barrier blocking off the duct..and Cameron who was stuck behind it.

"What the hell did you do Red?" Cameron was trying, alternately, to push and/or pull the gate.

"Damn, must have hit a trip plate." She told him, pushing on the gate from her side. "I forgot that parts of the course were booby trapped."

She kept pushing but to no avail. Suddenly two three fingered hands on long arms appeared beside her as Scrappy joined with her. Despite all three of them working on it, it wouldn't budge. Activating her omni-tool, Shepard peered at the obstruction.

It had jammed itself tightly into some brackets welded into the wall and wasn't moving. No doubt done deliberately.

"Well shit." That was Cameron sitting down in disgust after several minutes of pulling. "What happens now? Is there anyway for me to get to you or vice versa?"

Shepard was desperately trying to get her omni-tool to do something, anything, but it was a first year soldier's basic training model, without any of the fancy, and very useful, features of an every day onmi-tool.

"Damn thing, a baby's rattle would be more useful." She swore shaking her wrist. Just managing to curb her temper enough not to slam it into a wall and hurt herself. She knew better than to ask Scrappy, the cut on his left arm indicated that his tool, probably better than theirs, had been removed.

Scrappy meanwhile had been carefully studying the 'gate' and he let out a high chirp, which surprised them both.

"What's with the parakeet noises?" Cameron asked.

Shepard shook her head. "What is it, Scrappy?"

He pointed to the wall on Cameron's right side and made a pushing motion with both hands.

Alarmed, Cameron scuttled backwards at that. "What, what did he see?"

Shepard peered at the wall and after a moment saw a faint outline.

"I think there might be a door there, Del." She indicated the wall next to him. "I think he's suggesting that you push on it."

Cautiously Cameron approached the wall and, tentatively, putting both hands on it pushed; only to sprawl forward onto his stomach as a section of the wall opened backwards.

He scrambled back up. "Well damn." After a second, he activated his omni-tool's light and shone it into the darkened opening. Shepard caught a look on his face she knew well and sighed.

"Let me guess, it goes up?" Of course it would go up she thought bitterly but kept her feelings to herself.

"Yeah, Red, it goes up." Cameron turned back to her, ignoring the up escape.

"Go on up." She hoped she was keeping the wistfulness out of her voice.

"No I'm not leaving you, er, both of you." Cameron told her.

"Cameron, you can't get through and you can't stay there." She told him. As if in answer Scrappy suddenly stiffened besides her and let out a series of clics.

"Now he's a cricket!" Cameron commented.

From the way, Scrappy was acting something was agitating him. Then she remembered his sub harmonics, he must be hearing something that they couldn't.

"Scrappy?"

He looked at her with an unhappy whine.

"Are you hearing another Turian?"

He nodded his head vigorously.

"Damn, you've got to get out of here now. You do not want to be stuck in that duct if his kidnappers show up; and we've got to get out of here."

"Red, but…"

"No buts Del, get moving. "Shepard ordered him. "Find the others, find Morton, hell, find station security."

Reluctantly Cameron started to go into the duct, but he paused at the opening and looked at her.

"Be safe Red. I'll send the Calvary."

"Mounted on Elcors I hope." She joked as he disappeared into the duct. "And leave the door slightly open behind you, and watch out for booby traps."

As the door swung almost shut, she took out her handkerchief and dabbed it on a small wound that had opened up on Scrappy's shoulder. Then, thanking her smaller hands and arms; she reached through an opening on the barrier and smudged it on the side of the door.

There was a short chirp from Scrappy at that and she glanced at him. He was tilting his head in question.

"While I don't want them following Del, I do want them to think you've gone up to the Alliance levels." She explained and he nodded at that.

"Come on, let's get out of here." She indicated the duct, which fortunately, not too far ahead, started curving so they could get out of sight. "You first, and watch where you put your hands."

With a little hiss he turned and started crawling. Shepard following behind to make absolutely sure there was no trace of his blood beyond that barrier. Wondering if they were ever going to get out of this maze, and cursing herself for ever wanting to see the **TuFTAC** course.


	7. Chapter 7 - A Road May and a Flashlight

_Greetings All. I hope you're having a great weekend, where ever you are in it. There will probably only be a few more chapters in this story. It's not near as long as my other tale. Yes, I will be bringing resolution to a number of things. Not going to tell you what - so there. (Don't mind me, just being silly again.) So enjoy and take care. Thank you, as always, for the favs, the follows, the reviews and the comments._

* * *

A Road Map and a Flashlight

 **Shepard**

They wasted no time in getting around the bend in the duct and further on in the system. Fortunately there was another junction not far away that was letting in light from what she thought was an overhead ventilation shaft. Unfortunately it was too small and inaccessible to climb up. She brought them to a halt and indicating for him to sit, got out her penknife.

Scrappy looked at her uncertainly when she did that.

"Relax, I'm just going to try to cut this tape off your talons."

With a faint exhale of air over his pointed teeth, he settled back against the duct wall, allowing her to pick up his hand.

Despite it's sharpness, the duct tape was tough and sticky, and she had to be careful not to cut him. She got one talon free and dropped the pieces on the ground. Curious he picked it up with his other hand. After a minute of squeezing it between his fingers, he tried to drop it only to discover duct tape's ability to stick to any thing, including Turians, whether you wanted it to or not.

There was an annoyed clic from him as he shook his hand trying to get it loose. Shepard had to stop cutting because he was moving too much and she finally took pity on him and pulled the stuff free.

He huffed in irritation as she rubbed it off on a nearby pipe then gave a short sharp trill.

"Yeah, it's tenacious." She told him, smothering a laugh. "That's why it's used for everything." She got another huff and had to bite her lip at his obvious annoyance. "During the first manned space flights duct tape was always sent along."

He tilted his head in question.

"In case something needed to be repaired and, though this wasn't made as public, as something to restrain someone should they get violent or out of control."

He thought that over for a second and then nodded. She'd finished with one hand and putting it down gently, motioned for his other one. She noticed that he seemed to be leery of letting her touch his hands, and she wasn't sure what that was all about, and couldn't ask him.

As she worked on his other hand, she heard another exasperated huff out of him. She looked up to find him trying to rub the sticky residue of the tape off of his talon by rubbing them together.

"Yes, another of the joys of duct tape." She told him when he looked up at her. He let out another huff and she smiled.

"Try rubbing it in some of the dust." She told him. "At the least it will coat the sticky."

He nodded and gave it a try. It wasn't a complete success from what she could tell but it was obviously better.

In a couple of more moments she was done. She wadded up the cut pieces of tape and rubbed them off onto a piece of debris.

"That better?" She noticed that he was flexing his hands, moving them in what she thought might be some sort of defense pattern. Not for long though; one hard stretch and he hissed, his hands freezing. Obviously something was bruised or possibly broken.

"Easy Scrappy, don't hurt yourself." She told him.

He let out a faint whine, his shoulders slumped, and his head dropped. She didn't have to be Turian to recognize distress. She was sure the kid was upset and feeling guilty that he wasn't stronger, that he'd been kidnapped and beaten.

"Hey, everybody has bad days." She said. "Probably even Council Spectres."

Looking up, he let out a snort at that.

"You can't tell me that things don't go wrong for Turians like they do for humans." She exclaimed. "Clothes are dirty, coffee's too hot, food's too cold, your shoes pinch; and my favorite, idiots to deal with."

For a second he stared at her and then he let out a huffing laugh at that and she joined him.

"Everybody has idiots to deal with." She chuckled. "Stupid is universal." He nodded emphatically at that one, and then abruptly he sat upright and looked around, letting out a faint whine.

"The Turian?" Shepard dropped her voice to a whisper and he gave a sharp nod and another whine.

"Okay, let's get out of here. Just watch where you put your hands." With that she got down on her hands and knees, ignoring the soreness and pains in both, and started crawling again.

In short order she began to smell shuttle fuel and the odors of cargo, machine oil, and sweaty beings. She also started to hear what sounded like a cargo area and distantly the occasional clanking and hissing of a shuttle dock. Given the openness of the duct she knew the dock wasn't on this level. No open duct would be allowed near a shuttle bay, and she hadn't seen any blast doors along the way.

Finally ahead of them she could see light and shadows just around a slight bend. She stopped and Scrappy almost plowed into her backside.

He scrambled back with a startled clic.

"It's okay. I stopped." She told him. He tilted his head in question.

"I'm going to go ahead and scout it out." She explained. "You stay here just in case something goes wrong."

She wasn't a Turian expert but anyone could have recognized the mulish look on his face and a deep hum in his sub harmonics. He pointed to her, then himself; and then towards the opening.

"I know you're brave; but you're also hurt and I can move easier and faster than you at the moment." She said, wondering if she was going to have to fight him on this.

For a moment it looked like she was going to have to then he rocked to one side to ease his knees? and let out a sharp hiss, obviously hurting something.

"Besides," Shepard made no obvious mention of his pain. "..this way you can watch my six."

He almost looked like he was going to protest again; but then he nodded, with what sounded like a sigh.

"Thanks Scrappy." She cautiously patted his shoulder, which earned her an odd look, but he didn't do anything.

Carefully she eased around the corner – trying not to sound like a herd of stampeding elephants. The opening, more in shadow than in light, was clear, no duct cover – not even a grating on it. Getting down on her stomach, not a pleasant feeling, she slithered or tried to, to the opening and carefully peered out.

In the dimness she could see boxes and crates stacked all around, up to the struts that supported the ceiling in some places. From their looks they'd been there awhile and she didn't recognize any of the logos or writing on them. She looked left and right, all around, and then because, as one of her teachers pointed out, people never did it, she looked up. Nothing, no Blue Suns, no Batarian, no giant Turian.

With a faint sigh she sat up and let herself down from the duct, which about three feet above the floor. She found herself in a dim, dusty cleared area with a couple of passageways through the boxes and crates.

She was about to move towards a passageway that seemed to lead off towards a wall where she thought she caught the glow of an exit sign when she heard a faint creak.

With no conscious thought she threw herself sideways as she recognized the sound of armor moving. Something large and armor bearing hit the crate she'd been in front of.

She heard someone swearing and the flanging tones told her it was a Turian. Shit, shit, shit. She had to keep out of his grasp and lead him away from Scrappy. Didn't matter if it was Godzilla Turian or a merc, neither would be good.

Then she heard a sound that chilled her – that of a pistol being armed.

"I'd advise you stop, human." The voice was deep, but didn't sound like either Godzilla or Blue Suns. It almost sounded familiar to her. "I can see you."

Damn Turians and their eyesight.

She was about to reply when she caught a hint of movement out of the corner or her eye and a silver rocket seemed to launch itself from the duct to slam into the back of her adversary. Knocking him to the ground and, wonder of wonders, sending his pistol flying.

She wasted no time in scrambling after the gun and once getting it, turning it on the thrashing mass of two Turians.

"Get off me you idiot." Came the hiss from the older Turian and he tossed what had to be Scrappy to the side. The younger Turian slammed into a nearby crate and went still.

"Your turn to freeze, asshole." She snapped as she went to Scrappy's side.

"Alliance?" Now the older one was startled.

"What's it to you?" She was worried, Scrappy was awfully still.

There was a pause and then his omni-tool lit up – turning their little area almost as bright as a normal room.

The Turian started to get up.

"I said don't move." She snarled at him.

He froze as she pointed the pistol at him. Smart enough to aim for the largest mass of his body, less chance of missing.

Then she got a good look at him. It was the surly bar tender from the DMZ; she'd recognize those bare arms anywhere.

"Who are you working for? Blue Suns?"

He snorted at that, a more human gesture than she was expecting. Meanwhile Scrappy was finally, thankfully, regaining consciousness; but from the faint whines she was picking up; getting thrown across the room wasn't helping.

"What's wrong with him?" The older Turian was now eyeing Scrappy.

"Nothing. It hurts getting thrown into a crate."

"That's more pain than just getting tossed. He's hurt bad." The Turian was looking at her coldly.

"Damn, damn, damn." She swore out loud but didn't take her eyes off the bar tender.

"And where did you find him? Six humans left the bar – there was no Turian." He paused to study the kid. "No young Turian."

"What's it to you?" She helped Scrappy to sit up; but he just wrapped his arms around his chest – obviously in pain.

"I was down here looking for you." The Turian carefully leaned back against a crate.

"Why, so you can sell me to the highest bidder?" She snapped, now very nervous.

"Hardly. Trying to get you and your idiotic friends back to the Alliance before there was a incident." He went to reach for his omni-tool and she brought the gun up, hitting the activation button to remind him she was armed. Wisely he froze.

"I just want to activate a file on my omni – no weapons, ask your friend." He remained still.

"Hey Scrappy, he telling the truth?"

Scrappy brought his head up and after peering blurrily at the man, nodded. Then he dropped his head and went back to cradling his chest, beginning to whine ever so slightly. Whatever he was saying the older man was now looking at him with some concern.

He quickly activated his omni-tool and a picture, his picture, popped up, dressed in blue and black armor that looked familiar somehow.

"Teskal Neest, C-Sec."

At the mention of C-Sec, Scrappy looked up and let out a whine and a clic.

"C-Sec." She didn't lower the pistol. "This isn't the Citadel. Why would you be here?"

"No, but a lot of illegal things have been making their way to and from the Citadel from here, and C-Sec wants it stopped." Teskal turned his attention to Scrappy.

"Your friend is in bad shape." He told her. "I can't understand him very well; but he's saying something about a kidnapping."

"Yeah, found him on a lower level being beat up by some giant ass of a Turian." She explained and knelt down by Scrappy.

Unconsciously he leaned into her and she put her free arm around his shoulders. "Easy, it's okay."

She looked up at Teskal again. "He'd been kidnapped from the Citadel and brought here."

"Kidnapped!" Teskal abruptly started typing into his omni-tool, completely ignoring her. After a minute she caught a glimpse of what looked like a picture of Scrappy, but she couldn't read anything because it was all in Turian.

"Spirits." Completely ignoring her and the gun he knelt besides Scrappy. "Are you Castis's son?"

Scrappy nodded, leaning harder into Shepard's shoulder and beginning to shake.

"You know him?" She was becoming deeply concerned for the kid, and less worried about Teskal.

"Yes, his father is a detective in C-Sec. A good one." Teskal explained. "But we need to get him to a medic, he's hurt bad."

"Well tossing him into a crate didn't help." She told him as she disarmed the pistol and started to help Scrappy up. She wasn't quite ready to hand it back to him.

"I wasn't expecting to get blind sided." Teskal protested.

Despite Shepard's caution, Scrappy was panting hard when she finally got him upright. He wavered and she kept her arm around him to stabilize him.

Teskal looked questioningly at her. "Why are you concerned for him, he's Turian."?

"He's a kid, for the love of heaven." She snapped back. "And he's hurt, why shouldn't I be concerned. Is there someplace safe to take him."?

Teskal thought for a minute. "Yeah, there's a Turian military vessel nearby, they'll have the care he needs." He looked at her and Scrappy. "I'm going to have to carry him because he can't walk."

Glancing down at Scrappy, she had to agree. Kid was barely conscious.

"How do we get there?" She asked. "I've still got a merc possibly looking for me and there's a giant bastard of a Turian trying to find him."

"Station Security already knows about the mercs, I suspect they've left, but a Giant Turian! Did you get a name?" Teskal had stepped up to Scrappy.

"Yeah, Gorin..no, Gojin." She told him as he started to pick Scrappy up. The kid let out several whines and hisses; but Teskal, from what she could see was being as gentle as it was possible to be.

"It's okay, kid. We're getting you some help, okay." Shepard told him, gently patting his shoulder again. She noticed his mandibles lifted up a bit – a smile she thought she remembered.

"Can you use that thing?" Teskal indicated the pistol with a jerk of his head.

"Yes."

"Can you kill?" That was a whole 'nuther question, as her father would have said.

"I'm in the military, aren't I?"

"One doesn't necessarily mean the other, and you're human." Teskal shot back as he began to move through the crates, being very careful of Scrappy. The kid was barely conscious now, if at all.

"I can kill." She told him flatly. "I learned early."

Teskal just nodded as they moved out.


	8. Chapter 8 - Not Quite There

_Hello Good Readers. The further adventures of our intrepid duo. This chapter was getting pretty long so I decided to cut it here. More will be revealed elsewhere. Thanks, as always, for all of you who fav, follow, or leave comments or reviews for me. You make my day. I hope I make yours more enjoyable. Have a great one._

* * *

Not Quite There

 **Shepard**

Shepard had gone through innumerable drills about moving through enemy territory with a wounded companion; but they bore little resemblance to the situation she found herself in now.

With Teskal carrying Scrappy, she was the one with the gun and the one expected to provide cover for the other two when they were in a blind spot.

Judging her level of experience pretty accurately, Teskal gave her some direction without questioning her ability.

"Just keep ahead of me by about ten feet." He told her. "Hit your position then check ahead, behind and to the sides, before you motion me forward."

"What about above?" Despite everything she couldn't resist tossing that in.

"Above?"

"Our combat instructor says people never check above them." She told him. Teskal considered that for a moment.

"Smart teacher." The Turian finally commented. "Now go."

"Where's the shuttle dock?" Shepard asked, preparing herself.

"Next floor down. We have to get to the elevators." He told her, taking cover in a small maintenance niche. She was happy to see that he'd produced another gun for himself; but while he was holding Scrappy, using it would be another matter.

Taking a deep breath, Shepard snuck forward about ten feet to another niche, with several electrical panels in it. As Teskal had instructed her she looked ahead, behind, and to the sides; and then, just because, above. She was about to motion him forward when she heard someone coming from up ahead.

She made a _'stay'_ motion at him and eased back into the darkness. It turned out to be two human maintenance workers too absorbed in their conversation about an earth sports team to even notice their surroundings.

Once they had gone around the far bend, Shepard signaled him forward. He moved to her side quickly and quietly. When he got up along side of her, she checked Scrappy. He was still semi-conscious; but she noticed that now he'd begun to shiver. Figuring that wasn't a good sign, she took her jacket off and carefully put it over him. Teskal eyed her when she did that.

"He's shivering, probably shock." She explained, not meeting his stare.

"You're a good person, Alliance." He told her and she blushed at that. Somehow that simple praise meant almost as much as one of her instructors telling her when she did something right.

"I'm surprised he hasn't cried out yet." Teskal commented as they slunk down this straight section of the hallway together.

"Varren control collar, implanted electrodes." She explained and heard a snarl out of Teskal.

He glanced down at Scrappy's neck. "Spirits, the damn thing is active, it will alert his kidnappers."

"My friend Cameron, he was with us earlier, he disabled everything but the ready light." She told him.

"Thank the Spirits for that." Teskal breathed out, calming.

They'd reached a corner and Shepard carefully peered around it to find herself facing a wall with a bank of four elevators. One was boarded up; the other three seemed to be operational.

She pulled back next to Teskal. "Elevators. Which one do we take?"

"All of them go down." He told her. "We just have to find one heading down and not up."

"Wouldn't that take us to the Alliance levels?"

"Yes, but there are a couple of stops before we got there that we could run into trouble on." He glanced down at Scrappy, who kept drifting in and out of consciousness. "Plus he needs to get to a doctor as soon as possible. There are no good Turian doctors on this station."

She nodded and the two of them ghosted over to the elevator bank. Grimy with years of dust and oil, it was hard to see the floor indicator buttons but eventually they spotted one that was coming down. It stopped on the floor above for a few moments then headed down to their level, where they'd hit the floor button.

Teskal and she stayed to one side of the elevator, the side away from the corridor. She tensed and felt Teskal shift position beside her as the elevator hit their floor with a ding. Slowly the doors opened. For a moment everything was still then Teskal jerked his head at the open doors and they hurried in. Once inside she hit the door close button, and then the button for the next floor. An S spray-painted in the middle of it.

Teskal jerked his head to one side of the car as he moved to the other, so that neither of them would be front and center when the elevator opened.

It only took a minute or two that felt like hours to Shepard before the elevator slowed down and stopped. The doors opened on the shuttle level. It was noisy and fairly dim, but nobody was waiting for the elevator. Moving ahead of Teskal, Shepard carefully stepped out of the car, after carefully looking around she motioned the Turian out.

Now down on the shuttle level, there were more places to hide but also more reasons to hide. Almost instantly they had to disappear into a small disused side tunnel as a heavily armed Salarian merc walked past. When he stepped under a still functioning overhead light, it illuminated the blue sun crudely painted on his shoulder piece.

After he'd walked on down the corridor, Shepard turned to Teskal. "I thought you said we wouldn't run afoul of those mercs?"

Teskal looked confused. "What does a food animal have to do with mercs?"

It took her a second to realize what he meant. Translator glitch.

"No, afoul – one word – means running into people who will cause us trouble. A fowl – two words – means a food animal, a chicken."

He nodded, then. "Human is a VERY odd language."

"Tell me about it." She snorted, deciding the Turian/human translator needed to be modified for idioms and words with more than one meaning. "Where to now?"

"Entrance to the shuttle bay is just around the corner." He jerked his chin up ahead.

"But?" Somehow she thought he was holding something back.

"If anyone's going to be waiting, that's where they'll be." He told her honestly.

"How do we go in?" She hid her nervousness. No time to give in to her jitters.

Teskal carefully set Scrappy down. The boy had somewhat regained consciousness and could, at least, stay on his feet; but barely. Teskal jerked his head at Scrappy and Shepard hurried over and got one of his arms around her shoulder and one of hers around his chest. He hissed in pain and she eased up on her grip.

"Easy, Scrappy. It's okay." She said softly and got a erratic hum in return.

Teskal smiled briefly at that. "I'll go in first, make sure no one's there."

"What if there is?"

Teskal was grim. "Then I'll take care of it." She didn't doubt that for a minute.

After first making sure she and Scrappy were out of sight. He straightened up, dusted himself off a bit and headed for the door. He was humming. _(Do Turians hum like humans she wondered)_ as he walked in the door. She heard someone challenge him as the door started to close, and his easy answer. The door shut and she waited. Several long minutes passed as she listened intently, then the door opened. Wisely she remained still in her darkened recess as two Blue Suns, one a human and one a Turian came out.

The Turian turned to look back into the dock. "You sure about that?"

"Yeah, saw a couple of fucking Alliance whelps on the next level. Looked lost." Came Teskal's voice. He'd roughened his tone and dumbed down his speech. "But they were near the elevators."

"Come on Carter we need to cut them off." The Turian barked and the two men headed for the elevators.

Teskal waited for them to get around the bend then looked to where she was hiding and waved her over. Wasting no time, she got Scrappy moving and they got into the shuttle dock while, Teskal shut the door behind them, and, she thought, locked it.

It was a small dock, only big enough for four shuttles. One had slammed against a wall years ago and looked to be welded to it by time. One was gone. That left two shuttles. One a semi-regulation grey and one…

"Eww, don't tell me that eye sore is yours." She eyed the garishly painted lime green and purple craft.

"C-Sec got it for cheap." Teskal lifted Scrappy up and they hurried across the dock.

"Wonder why?" Shepard figured there'd been a whole lot of alcohol or drugs involved with someone voluntarily painting a shuttle those colors.

"They figured no one would believe that anyone trying to hide out would fly something like that." Teskal managed to open the shuttle door with an elbow and they all piled in.

"Yeah, but it makes trying to hide in plain sight a whole lot tougher." She remarked as he gently laid Scrappy down on a bench like seat in the back.

"You do have a point, maybe I can guilt C-Sec into a new paint job. Now get him secured while I get us out of here." Teskal ordered as he closed the door in passing and dove into the pilot's seat.

She heard the shuttle warming up and Teskal speaking to station control as she carefully strapped the young Turian in. He'd roused again and not understanding what was going on, started to panic.

"Hey easy, Scrappy. It's okay, you're safe." She held him down. Not difficult, he was weak and not much bigger than she was. Just a scrawny teen-ager really, she wondered what he'd look like when he attained his final size. Some Turians put on a lot of mass and height in their last growth spurt. If there were indicators like big feet on a kitten or puppy, she didn't know what they were for a Turian.

After a moment he eased and looked up at her. He opened his mouth but nothing but a faint whine came out.

"It's okay Scrappy. It's alright to be worried." She did her best to sooth him. The last thing they needed was for him to panic and hurt himself worse.

"Hold on, launch imminent." Teskal threw over his shoulder. With that the red warning lights blazed on in the shuttle dock as it was depressurized. It took only a few moments before the outer doors, it was, after all, an old shuttle dock, opened and Teskal lifted off.

Shepard wanted him to blast out of there to get Scrappy the help he desperately needed; but Teskal knew better and moved at a normal speed to avoid attracting undue attention.

After Teskal had threaded his way through a small mob of shuttles and merchant vessels clustered around the space station, she moved up to the co-pilot's chair.

"He okay?" Teskal didn't take his attention from his piloting.

"Yeah and no. Yeah, he just passed out again, but no because he's still shaking." She told him. "How long?"

"About twenty minutes at this speed."

"Won't they know where you've gone?" She glanced over her shoulder at Scrappy.

"No, Long Wall's scanners are pretty weak." He told her.

"That doesn't make sense given what it was during the war." She frowned.

"Oh, I'm sure they've been modified in the years since 314."

For a second she was puzzled then she remembered that the Relay 314 Incident was what the Turians called the First Contact War.

For several minutes they just sat quietly. Teskal piloting and Shepard watching for the Turian vessel. Surprised that they'd managed to get away with so little trouble. That wasn't how things usually went for her. Then she heard a hiss and a whine behind her.

"Don't let him hurt himself." Teskal ordered just as she spotted something rapidly getting closer in the distance.

"No Officer." She got up and he scowled as she did.

"Spirits, do not call me Officer. You sound like the Executor of C-Sec." He muttered.

"Uptight is he?" She hurried over to Scrappy.

"No, she's really uptight." Teskal retorted.

"Sorry, meant no insult." Shepard was still getting used to how many female Turians were in positions of importance. Even female humans still had a problem with some jobs.

"None taken." Teskal told her. "Not something you'd be expected to know. How is he?"

Shepard carefully checked Scrappy out. He'd passed out again. From what she could feel his pulse seemed the same as before; but he was still periodically shaking and she thought it might be a touch harder.

"He seems no weaker but I think the shaking might be worse."

Teskal nodded and activated his comm unit.

"Turian Destroyer Relentless, this is Shuttle Chipeek 34 asking for docking permission."

There was a pause then. "Shuttle Chipeek 34, why are you asking to come aboard?"

"I have an injured youngster on board and he needs medical help immediately." Teskal replied.

"Scans show you also have a human aboard." The voice sounded disdainful.

"Yes, and she's been invaluable in helping me with the young one." Teskal replied calmly.

"All right, come ahead. The docking bay will be lit." Came the curt reply.

"Have medical meet us down there. This youngster is seriously hurt." Teskal insisted.

"They will meet you there, Relentless out."

"I'm afraid you're not going to get a very friendly reception."

Teskal threw over his shoulder. Shepard could hear the engines speed up. "The Relentless was one of the lead ships in the 314 incident."

"I heard." Shepard sighed. "As long as they don't shoot me."

"They shouldn't; but stay behind me and don't make any sudden moves." Teskal told her. "And I apologize in advance for anything nasty anyone says."

"Don't you hate me?" She made sure her jacket was tucked around Scrappy's shoulders.

"Why?" Teskal sounded surprised.

"I'm human."

"And I'm Turian – so what?"

"But…"Shepard didn't know how to say what she was thinking.

"You mean because of 314?" Teskal seemed to know what she was thinking.

"Yeah."

"Both sides fucked up as you humans say." Teskal's mandibles clicked. "I could cling to anger about that or I could get past it and try to get along with you squishy pyjaks."

She was about to retort when she recognized the tilt of his mandibles – he was teasing her.

"Smart ass." She tossed back and he chuckled. An odd sound from dual voice boxes.


	9. Chapter 9 - Humans Need Not Apply

_Greetings Good Readers. I hope you had a great weekend. I also hope you're still enjoying this tale. Many, many thanks to all those who have faved, are following, or have commented or reviewed this tale. You keep writers going. (Well, that and chocolate) LOL If you have any comments or reviews don't hesitate to get in touch. Have a lovely day._

* * *

Humans Need Not Apply

 **Shepard**

Teskal hadn't been kidding. Their shuttle had barely docked, when the blast doors opened and a medical team with a stretcher ran for their craft. Right behind them was a squad of armed and armored Turian soldiers led by some sort of officer. She wasn't totally familiar with Turian ranks; but given the amount of shiny stuff on his armor he was obviously someone important. He had pale brown plates, light beige skin, and light grey eyes, and for a Turian a rather self important look.

Teskal groaned when he caught sight of Mr. Shiny.

"Teskal?" She asked.

"Officer in Charge is a 314 veteran."

"Oh." That wasn't good.

"Stay behind me and stay close." Teskal told her as he went to open the door for the medical team.

"Where's the patient?" A female Turian, a doctor she thought, demanded.

"He's back here." Teskal told him as she and a male came on board. The female spotted Shepard and let out an angry sounding hiss.

"Stop it." Teskal snapped. "She rescued him and got him to safety." Surprisingly the doctor had the grace to look embarrassed.

"Sorry." She told Shepard and got a nod in return.

"What happened? What can you tell us?" She'd gone to Scrappy and was carefully scanning him.

"He was kidnapped on the Citadel and brought out here to Long Wall. His kidnapper removed his colony marks, muzzled him, and put a Varren control collar on him."

That got another, even angrier sounding hiss from the doctor; but Shepard knew it wasn't directed at her.

"My friend deactivated it, but the electrodes are imbedded in his throat and we couldn't take it off." Shepard sighed, she was still sorry they hadn't been able to do anything about that.

The female had finished her scan and quickly administered several shots to Scrappy.

"Auscap, we need to get him to surgery now. He's got broken ribs. Haven't punctured his lungs but they're rubbing against them." She exclaimed.

"Yeah." Shepard rubbed her neck. "His kidnapper was beating him when we ran across him, and he wasn't playing nice."

The female tilted her head in question.

"All the places you'd hit one another unfairly to really disable the other guy, he was hitting and hitting hard."

"And how would you know that…human?" Came a disdainful voice and Mr. Shiny stepped into the shuttle, a guard at his back.

Shepard didn't need Teskal's warning hum to know that this man neither liked nor trusted her, nor did he feel the need to be friendly.

"I've seen old Alliance manuals from the…" She paused and used their word for it. "..314 incident, sir."

"Are you sure you weren't practicing, human?" He insinuated.

Teskal snarled at that. "Back off, Commander. She's telling the truth and the boy, and we, owe her his life."

"Oh yes, C-Sec." Mr. Shiny was equally disdainful of that.

"Enough you two. We need to move this boy and now." The Doctor was not intimidated by Mr. Shiny. "Auscap, get the stretcher." The other male slipped by Mr. Shiny and his guard. Shepard heard him talking to the other medics outside.

"Doctor Hestel.." Shiny began.

"Commander Linkasa, shut up." To Shepard's surprise and hidden delight – Mr. Shiny shut up. He went to leave, reaching out to grab Shepard's arm and pull her with him. Teskal blocked him.

"I'm in charge of security on the Relentless." Linkasa said.

"And I'm in charge of this Alliance Private." Teskal shot back. For several moments the two men glared at each other.

Shepard knew it was a form of confrontation the Turians practiced. The loser, so to speak, was the first one to break eye contact.

Despite all his medals and campaign markers, it was Linkasa who looked away first. Shepard was quietly impressed by that. Teskal hadn't struck her as that dominant; but obviously he was. Either that or Linkasa was a weakling; which she didn't believe for a minute.

Linkasa shot a glare at Shepard, avoiding Teskal's stare as he and his guard got out of the way of the stretcher-bearers. Taking a cue from Teskal, Shepard met the Commander's eyes straight on, no flinching or avoidance.

Linkasa was startled, then irritated, and she heard him huffing as he left.

"Good for you Alliance." Teskal murmured.

"Yeah, well I'm sorta shaking in my boots here." She admitted and Teskal chuffed in amusement.

"But you stood your ground and with Turians that's important."

"Easy youngster, easy you're safe and we're taking you to surgery." They heard Hestel say then abruptly. "…easy, no, don't struggle."

Without thinking, Shepard moved over to the stretcher where the medics were trying to get Scrappy to lay down. The youngster was fighting them.

"Hey Scrappy, it's okay." She pushed between two of them and put a hand on his shoulder, very carefully.

Scrappy stopped struggling and looked up at her. He opened his mouth and she heard a faint, hiccupping whine.

"It's alright, you're safe and they'll get you back to your family, but you've got to stop fighting. You can relax now."

He gave a mandible clic and she smiled at him, unaware that all the Turians were watching the two of them in amazement.

"Now behave or I'll send you a box of candy wrapped in duct tape." She teased and he gave a soft chuff at that, finally relaxed, and closed his eyes. She carefully stepped back so the medics could do their thing.

Only to find that Teskal was also watching her.

"Er, what? Did I do something wrong?" She asked the C-Sec officer as the medics maneuvered the stretcher out of the shuttle.

Teskal shook his head. "No. We're just not used to seeing a human being nice to a Turian."

She shrugged, coloring slightly. "It's nothing much. He's just a kid."

"It's more than you think." He told her. "But now we need to get you back to your people."

"If it hasn't left yet, there's the Alliance destroyer - the Trinidad - that we all arrived on." She sighed then moaned. "I'm gonna be cleaning latrines for the rest of my military career."

Teskal laughed. "Oh, the Alliance uses that punishment too."

"Yeah." She groaned. "I think our base has the cleanest toilets in the entire galaxy."

"I know a few Turian bases that can boast the same thing." Teskal told her and despite all she chuckled.

Just then they heard a stir outside and a moment later a Turian stepped into the shuttle. Mr. Shiny had been an annoyance this man was deadly. An older Turian with dark grey plates and dark tan skin. His colony markings were simple red slashes down his cheeks from his orange eyes, one eye marled orange and yellow from a scar that ran down the left side of his face from his crest to his mandibles. He was dressed in battered dark red ( _Ox blood red her art training supplied)_ armor.

"Captain Umrai." Teskal straightened up in a show of respect he had not given Linkasa.

"Officer." Umrai's voice was deep with a rasp to it. As he turned to her, Shepard saw another deep scar across his throat, no doubt the underlying cause of his voice.

"Captain, sir." She also straightened up and gave him all the respect she'd have given a human Captain.

"You are not Hierarchy, Private." He eyed her, seriously but not dismissively as Linkasa had.

"You are the captain of a vessel and you deserve all the respect that position grants you, sir." He nodded at that, somehow she thought he was pleased.

"Private." He went on. "While I would love to hear your tale." Here he sighed and looked out into the shuttle dock. "My security chief is having Varren pups." At least that's what her translator spit out.

The Captain went on. "My doctor is confused, the cadet needs to be taken back to his family, and I truly do not wish to get into a dispute with the Alliance."

"I understand, sir." She replied, still not relaxing.

"Officer Neest, can you transport the Private back to the Alliance?" Umrai turned to Teskal.

"Of course sir."

Umrai turned again to Shepard. "While I doubt that politics will permit anyone to hear of this. I thank you Private for interceding when you did. That young man will owe you both a life debt and a blood debt."

Shepard shrugged. "I only did what a soldier is supposed to do, sir. Protect the innocent." Again the Captain nodded and he turned to go, stopping for a moment in the door to look down at her.

"Many do not think as you do, Private." He told her. "Keep this attitude, I think it will carry you far in your Alliance and in the galaxy."

"I will sir."

"C-Sec, come and see me after you have returned the Private to her people." He told Teskal, then he was gone.

Teskal let out his breath, as he went over to the shuttle door and closed it.

"You've got a quad, Alliance." Teskal told her as he strapped into the pilot's seat. Shepard sat next to him in the co-pilot's seat.

"Who is Captain Umrai?"

"One of the last of an ancient line." Teskal commented as he asked for permission to take off. "His family have been warriors and soldiers since the Krogan rebellion." Shepard knew how very long ago that was and whistled. Teskal shook his head at that and she stopped.

"Also one of the major military leaders in the Relay 314 incident." He eyed her and she realized now what he had meant. Odds were the Captain had been scarred in that war, and could have, very easily, taken against her just for being a human.

"Quad? You been hanging out with Krogan?" She asked to change the subject.

Teskal laughed at that. "What else would you find at a bar."

She chuckled as he lifted off.


	10. Chapter 10 - Passing It On

_Greetings Folks. Sorry it took a bit for this chapter. I hope you're still enjoying this tale as much as I'm enjoying writing it for you. Oh, someone asked if this is going to tie into my other story - A Matter of Perspective. Well, they're in the same universe and have some of the same characters, more than that you'll have to wait and see. The main characters and story are Biowares, I'm just playing with them. As always thank you for your favs, your follows, and your comments and reviews. If you see a mistake let me know. I'm far from perfect. Have a good one._

* * *

Passing it On

 **Anderson**

Lieutenant Commander David Anderson had hoped that this first leave during Basic would pass uneventfully. Well, his friends had always said he was an optimist right up until reality hit him in the back of the head.

FGL or First Group Leave had started off okay. It was a way to see how the Privates (cadets) integrated with aliens, though they wouldn't meet a lot aliens on Long Wall, unless they went where they shouldn't.

The Colony kids were usually okay, they'd met a few aliens in their time. It was the earth born ones who tended to have to adjust. Most did, but every now and again you ran up against one that couldn't or wouldn't. They weren't dismissed from the service but they were assigned to human only colonies or space stations.

Most everybody headed off to the bars they were supposed to go to. A few had wandered into a couple of the tougher bars and were currently sobering up or being patched up in the hospital ward of the destroyer Trinidad.

But, there was always a but he thought sourly, a group of six had headed down to the DMZ in the alien area. Including, of course because Murphy was a bastard, his protégé – Jessamine Shepard the sole survivor of Mindoir.

He'd been watching over her since he found her on Mindoir, covered in Batarian blood wielding, of all things, a machete and a scythe. She'd been acting tough and unaffected; but he'd seen the cracks and witnessed her finally collapsing in tears at the realization that she'd lost everyone and everything she loved.

She'd come back from that collapse; but Psyche evaluations showed that underneath she was still carrying some pretty deep scars. Scars that might one day break open and consume her. They might, and then again they might not. Shepard was tough, far tougher than her small size and delicate features had led many to believe.

She had a wild side though. Something one psychiatrist said was her way of acting out against the memories. But said wild side tended to bring her up against the brass and regs with negative results.

Witness this unsanctioned jaunt down to the lower levels of the space station. The rest of her group had managed to find their way back up to the Alliance levels through the ducts and tunnels that wove around the **TuFTAC** course. Del Cameron being the last one up. He'd told them about some Turian kid they'd encountered in the ducts and the resulting booby trap that had separated them.

Anderson rubbed the back of his neck where a headache was slowly building, like a hurricane. He wondered who the kid was and what kind of squawk that would get from the Hierarchy. Almost twenty years after the First Contact War and the Turians and the humans were still tip toeing around each other.

"Sir." His aide stuck his head in the door. Martinez was old, old school, and a Luddite to boot.

"Yes, Luis?" Anderson looked up and smiled. "What is it?"

"There's a Citadel Security Officer on the line for you."

"C-Sec, what do they want?" Anderson leaned forward to click on his desk's communication unit. Martinez shrugged and closed the door.

"Anderson here." He answered formally. "Who am I speaking to?"

The image of a Turian, oddly not dressed in C-Sec blue and black, popped up in front of him.

"Sir, I'm C-Sec Officer Teskal Neest."

"Officer Neest, how can I help you?" Anderson asked as he did a quick check of the Alliance's intel on who, from what group, was currently on Long Wall. STG, the Hierarchy, C-Sec. At least the ones they'd discovered. Neest was actually listed as undercover C-Sec so he relaxed only to get distracted as he saw the order pop up on his datapad to talk to the six who'd gone down to the DMZ. He sighed.

"Well, it's more like I wanted to pass something along to you." Neest rubbed the side of his neck.

"Yes?"

"A shuttle from the Turian destroyer Relentless dropped off one of your cadet/privates a while ago." Neest explained.

"They did?" Anderson checked his incoming data. Sure enough, the shuttle had dropped off – he sighed in resignation – Shepard. Of course it would be Shepard, he didn't have a big enough headache yet.

"I'm sorry Officer. The Private and her companions will be disciplined."

Neest waved him off. "I'm not calling to have her punished. I'm calling to let you know that I think she should be commended for her actions."

That caught Anderson completely by surprise. "You do?"

"I don't know whether the Hierarchy will say anything, and his father probably won't." Here Neest made what Anderson thought was a grimace. "But your Private put herself in danger to help rescue a young man who'd been kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?"

Neest nodded. "Someone out to get back at his father who's a C-Sec detective, a good one."

"Go on." Now Anderson was very interested, no one had mentioned anything about this.

"She found him in one of the ducts and helped him get away from his kidnappers. She was trying to get him up to the Alliance levels when I found them." Here Neest gave a chuff of amusement. "Tough kid. Was ready to blow my head off."

"She was armed?"

"No, she got my gun when the boy knocked me over." Neest waved that off. "It's a long story. The important part of it is; she went out of her way to help a young Turian she owed nothing to. Someone she might reasonably not even like. Oh, and one of her companions helped with some tech work; but I don't remember his name. Spirits, I didn't even get her name."

That gave Anderson a very good feeling that his judgment about Shepard had been right all along.

"How is the young man?"

Neest sighed and rubbed his neck again. "He's been in surgery for awhile now. The medics say he'll be okay, but he's going to be a long time healing." Neest shook his head at that. "But without her aide, he would have been either a slave or dead – or most likely a dead slave."

Anderson shuddered mentally, knowing that Turians did not do well as slaves.

"Like I said," He went on. "I don't know if anything official will ever be said; but someone needs to know what she did." Neest paused. "If our two races are ever to get along better we need more soldiers like your young Private – who's able to see the person not the race."

"Officer, thank you for telling me this. I'll make very sure that it gets into her records." Anderson told him.

"It's my pleasure." Neest smiled. "And I'll try to get her jacket back to her." Just then the Turian looked to the side as if hearing something. "Sorry, not exactly authorized to make this call so I better go. Spirits watch over you."

With that the connection cut out, leaving Anderson with a lot to think about. 

Around the Same Time

 **Shepard**

It hadn't taken Teskal long to find the Trinidad, she was still parked near Long Wall. Shepard got the sinking feeling that it was probably because she hadn't reported back in. Those latrines were looming ever larger in her future.

It did, however, take a while for the Trinidad to grant Teskal the right to dock his shuttle. They were not happy about letting a strange Turian on board; but finally they relented. Once the shuttle set down, Shepard went to the door.

"I don't think they'll let you off the shuttle, Officer." She was apologetic.

"No officer, remember." He smiled at her. "I hadn't expected them to, just wanted to make sure you got back here safely."

She opened the door to come face to face with Sergeant Morton and two armed Alliance soldiers. A very angry Sergeant Morton.

"Sir," She snapped to attention. Ignoring the chuff of amusement behind her.

"Well Private, so glad to see that you could finally join us." Morton drawled sarcastically.

She heard Teskal and a moment later was aware of him at her back.

"The Private was helping Citadel Security with an important investigation, Sergeant." Teskal's voice was cool and formal. Wildly different from his normal tone and behavior.

That caught Morton off guard. "Oh, er, yes sir. Come along Private."

"Yes sir." She paused for a moment and looked at Teskal. "Thanks." She whispered.

"Wish I could do more; but I'm not military." He said equally quietly.

"You tried." Then before she stepped out. "Say goodbye to Scrappy for me and tell him to get well."

"I shall." He said then in a louder voice. "Spirits watch over you Private."

"And you, Officer." She exited the shuttle to the sound of an annoyed huff.

Teskal's announcement had bought her some measure of protection from Morton's sarcasm; but she was sure someone somewhere would have a lot to say about her jaunt through the bowels of Long Wall.

She just hoped it wouldn't be Anderson. Anderson who'd been first to find her on Mindoir, who'd watched her fall apart when she realized that her whole world was gone, who'd been there for her while she recovered, and Anderson who'd been and still was, she hoped, her mentor when she joined the Alliance.

She was not quite marched in disgrace through the Trinidad to an out of the way briefing room. There, to her relief, she found the rest of her friends. They all came to their feet when Morton entered, her trailing behind.

"The Brass wants to talk to you." Morton told them, then with relish and menace. "When we get back to base you will be making up for this little excursion, am I understood?"

"Sir, yes sir." They exclaimed. With a disapproving scowl, the Sergeant turned and left.

After a moment to make sure he was gone. Cameron threw himself at her.

"Red, you're okay." He exclaimed grabbing her around the neck.

"Whoa, easy Del, don't choke the Private." She laughed, patting him on the back. The others had crowded around her.

"Damn, what happened to you, Red?" That was Betts. "Cameron was babbling on about a kidnapped Turian, a booby trap."

Shepard laughed as she detached Cameron from her neck. "It gets even better. Ran into, of all things, a Turian C-Sec officer."

"What, where?" That was Timmons.

"On the level above one of the auxiliary shuttle docks." She explained collapsing into a chair and helping herself to a glass of water.

"You got all the way down there?" Huston was amazed.

"Yeah, those tunnels are way more extensive than they let on." She said after taking a big gulp of coldish, unsterilized, very unpackaged water.

"So where did this C-Sec come from, and why was he there?" That was Huston.

Shepard was about to mention that it was the bar tender when she realized that he was probably undercover and kept quiet.

"Where else, Nikki." Shepard told her. "He was there looking for illegal items that were being shipped to the Citadel."

"Makes sense." Timmons said. "Easier if they stop the stuff before it gets on the Citadel."

"What about the kid?" That was Cameron sitting down near her.

"Me and C-Sec got him to the Turian ship where the doctors swarmed all over him."

"He gonna be okay?" Cameron was digging in a pocket and he pulled out an e-rat bar. At the hungry light in Shepard's eyes, he handed it over with a sigh.

"I hope so." Despite being rock hard and tasting like wallpaper paste, she bit into the bar with a sigh of satisfaction. She hadn't eaten since well before they'd landed on Long Wall.

"Turns out his dad is somebody in C-Sec and the kid was kidnapped to get back at him."

"That's messed up." Luce spoke up.

"That's the dark side of the galaxy, Luce." Shepard spoke up through a mouthful of e-rat chunks. Deliberately pushing thoughts of Mindoir to the back of her mind.

"So who do you think they're going to send to 'politely'." Timmons made air quotes. "..explain to us the error of our ways."

"Who ever it is, will probably make Morton seem tame." Betts sighed, leaning back in his chair.

"Yeah, well we wouldn't have been down there." Cameron spoke up, eyeing Betts. "If you hadn't been thinking below the belt."

Betts had the grace to be embarrassed. "Yeah, sorry about that guys."

"Sorry isn't going to cut it when we have to clean every stinking latrine on that base." Timmons groused. There was a chorus of moans in agreement.

The Brass left them to stew while the Trinidad headed back. Shepard could feel the subtle vibrations that said the ship was under way. She mooched another E-rat bar off of Cameron, and ate two of the ones she carried with her.

Luce had about dozed off, leaning back in her chair, almost but not quite snoring. Betts had his head down on his arms on the table, also on the edge of sleep. Cameron was trying to pace while he was sitting down – rocking and swinging his chair 'till Shepard was ready to yell at him to stop. Timmons was sitting back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling, probably doing some kind of equation in his mind. Huston was sitting quietly. Shepard was never sure what she was thinking about, because she didn't think like everybody else. There was a coldness to her that made Shepard think that if Nikki stayed in long term she'd become an infiltrator.

And Shepard was trying to decide between staring at the ceiling and counting all the dots in the acoustic tiles, or in trying to take a nap.

Before she could come to a decision, the door opened. Everyone, even Luce, shot to their feet and came to attention as, Shepard swore under her breath, Lieutenant Commander Anderson walked in.

"At ease, Privates." Anderson's voice was stern; but without the sarcastic edge that Morton's always had when they messed up. They sat.

Anderson also sat and spent a few moments reading from the datapad he'd brought with them. Nobody fidgeted, though they all desperately wanted to.

Finally he looked up as if just seeing them. "You'll be happy to know that we're on our way back to earth, only delayed by a couple of hours thanks to several of you managing to get yourselves lost."

They all winced at that.

"You will also be delighted to learn that when you get back to base, all of you will be partaking in a round of spring cleaning. Starting with the latrines and then moving on to the trash bins."

There were several very deep sighs from the group.

"Now, I want you to tell me, in detail, what happened and what the hell you were thinking by wandering off." Anderson's voice went cold. Since he didn't tend to swear it made his exclamation that much more startling.

Taking turns they told him what had happened, from the very beginning. Luce, Cameron, and Betts all took the blame for their parts.

"Private Betts, since you essentially got everyone into this mess. You will be assigned to the latrines out by the obstacle course."

Betts couldn't hold back a groan at that. Those particularly latrines were infamously known as 'The Bogs' with good reason.

"Privates Luce and Cameron you will be helping him for the first day, after that you will be transferred to trash bin duty." Anderson's voice was firm but not nasty. Somehow, Shepard reflected, it made it all seem worse. That they'd disappointed a good man with their stupid behavior.

"All right. You are confined to quarters till we get back to earth." He told them. "You are dismissed."

Quietly they all got up to make their way out of the room.

She was just about to the door when. "Private Shepard, a moment."

"Yes sir." She sighed. Cameron shot her a sympathetic look as he left.

She turned around to face Anderson, wondering if this was where he washed his hands of her.

"Sit down Shepard." His voice had changed. It was serious more than disapproving. She obeyed.

For several long moments he just watched her, while she refused to squirm in her seat. He had a way of making you want to do that when he was focused on you.

"Not a bright move." He told her.

"No sir." She agreed.

"You could have gone back."

"I don't desert my friends, no matter what." She said coldly. Again burying the memories of what she'd found when she made it back to her home. Anderson nodded, as if knowing what she was thinking.

"I got a call about you awhile ago." He told her.

Shit, given her luck it was probably from Mr. Shiny.

"A C-Sec officer…"

Her stomach did a flip-flop. Officer Teskal had called?

"He called to say he thought you deserved to be recognized for your actions in rescuing the boy you found."

"He did?" She actually squeaked and Anderson suddenly coughed at that. After a moment she realized that he was trying not to laugh.

"He did." There was a pause. "Why didn't you make more mention of this rescue, Shepard?"

She shrugged. "It didn't seem all that big a thing, sir."

He paused for a long moment. "Why did you even bother to rescue the boy?"

"Why does everyone ask that?" She exclaimed in irritation. "He's a kid, for heaven's sake, why shouldn't I help him?"

"He's Turian." Came the flat reply.

"So." She shot back, too angry to keep her cool. "What was I suppose to do – leave him there? Human, Turian, Asari, Salarian…hell, even Krogan. What does that matter? He needed help that was all that mattered."

Anderson smiled and her whole world was suddenly brighter.

"Sir?"

"That's what I..the Alliance is desperate for Shepard." He told her, leaning forward now. "People who will go the extra mile for anyone who needs help. Who see the spirit not the shell."

She shrugged, uncertain what to think.

"When you're done with basic. If you still think the Alliance is for you – I'm going to recommend you for N7 training." Anderson told her.

She about stopped breathing. The training was hard, brutal, and dirty, meant to break people down; but N7s were the elite of the Alliance forces. Soldiers that very few were willing to challenge, and that very few could best.

If she'd been an N7… She tore her thoughts away from that. She hadn't been and what was done was done and gone.

"What do you say, Shepard?" Anderson was waiting for an answer; but he'd also sat back – not wanting to crowd her.

She might not make it, but, by damn, she owed it to her family, to Mindoir to try.

"Yes sir." Here she smiled. "I'd like that."

He smiled at her and she saw the man who'd been watching over her since that terrible night. She smiled back, basking, in what she realized she'd missed. Someone pleased by what she'd done, for her sake not their own.

After a moment, Anderson grinned. "You're still going to have to clean latrines though."

"Damn." She muttered and he laughed.


	11. Chapter 11 - Healing

_Good Monday All. Getting towards the end of this tale. I hope you like it and I really do appreciate all the favs, follows, reviews and comments. You make writing fun and worthwhile. Hopefully I've portrayed Castis correctly; but I was trying to balance a father and a good Turian, they aren't mutually exclusive but there would be some differences. I will be tying up all the loose ends, so enjoy and if I've goofed on something don't hesitate to let me know. Cheers._

* * *

Healing

 **Castis**

Castis Vakarian sat at his desk, blankly staring at a data pad. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he should be working, following up a lead on a black market ring in the lower wards. But his mind would not focus, it only wanted to circle around one thought. Garrus was gone.

Someone had kidnapped his son and taken him off the Citadel. None of his CIs knew anything. Whoever this was had arrived on the station, taken Garrus, and left within ten hours.

Somewhere deep inside, he ached with the knowledge that whoever had orchestrated this had done it to deliberately hurt him. They'd succeeded, he almost couldn't breath he ached so badly at the thought of Garrus out there somewhere alone, no one to back him up. Garrus was brave but he was still just a youngling – not even having gotten his last growth spurt.

His wife Vassita was holed up in his small Citadel apartment with their daughter Solana. The two kids (despite being in Basic, Garrus was still, at heart, a kid) had snuck out to go see the Presidium lake. Castis was sure it had been Solana's idea, Garrus had been here before; but Castis would never say so or lay the blame on his daughter It was a simple, dumb idea, like most kids get, that had backfired.

Somehow the two had realized that someone was trying to capture them. Garrus had managed to get the far enough ahead of the kidnappers that he could hide Solana and lead the thugs away.

She'd waited until she couldn't hear any more pursuit then she'd crawled out of her hiding spot and run to the nearest safe place she could see. A small Turian café. Once Solana had babbled out her tale, the owner called C-Sec instantly.

When he arrived, with back up, he'd been both relieved and pained to see her sitting alone, sobbing in the arms of the café owner. Relieved she was safe, and dismayed that Garrus was not with her.

Regulations be damned, he'd picked up his daughter and used his sub harmonics to soothe her tears, while his people spread out and looked for witnesses. There were few, and the surveillance cameras in that area were old and badly damaged, so hadn't recorded much but a few blurry images. But it caught enough to show Garrus hiding his sister and then running off after, apparently, letting the mercs just get a glimpse of him. He'd been carrying her coat wrapped around something, Castis wasn't sure what it had been.

Garrus might not of been the best Turian in the Hierarchy, but his son didn't lack for smarts or courage. At that thought, his heart constricted again. A son he might never see again.

He thought he was about to go mad with inactivity and worry when his omni-tool signaled.

"Vakarian here." There was no trace of his upset in his voice as he answered.

"Vakarian, it's Executor Esselen, one of my undercover agents just contacted me – your son has come in on the destroyer Relentless and he's been taken to Huerta Hospital. Go see to him. Take however much time you need, Executor out."

"Yes Executor." Castis hadn't even waited for the call to end. He was on his feet headed for the door.

Before he knew it he was outside C-Sec headed for the nearest sky car station.

When he got there he immediately activated his omni-tool.

"Vakarian Household." Came Vassita's voice. Neutral with pain and exhaustion – she'd been keeping her misery hidden except with him – and never really with Solana. Both she and he were afraid that the young girl would get the idea that she was responsible for her brother's disappearance and they would not do that to her.

"Vassie." His voice was gentle when he used her nickname. She didn't much like it – only he could get away with it.

"Castis…" He could hear her faint keen of misery.

"Vassie," He interrupted. "They've found Garrus, he's at Huerta."

"What? How? How is he?" Her sub harmonics exploded with relief, joy, worry, and fear.

"I don't know. I'm taking a car over there now." He told her, keeping an eye on the line for the vehicles. There were a couple of people ahead of him.

"Solana and I will come."

"No, not by yourselves." He cut her off. "I'll call one of the off duty Officers and they'll escort you to Huerta."

"Castis?"

"I'm not taking chances." He told her.

"I'm not helpless, Castis." Now it was Vass the Infiltrator talking, not Vassie his mate.

"I know you're not Vassie, but I was foolish once – I won't be again particularly where you and Solana are concerned."

For a moment they regarded each other and then she gave a short trill of acceptance. He figured she was mostly doing it because of their daughter. She was right, she could very well defend herself; but trying to do so and protect Solana would make them both targets.

"My car's coming up." He hummed a note of reassurance at her and she returned it. "I'll call if I learn anything."

Castis's trip to Huerta was amazingly normal. Nothing or no one jumped out at him or tried to hijack his air car.

When he exited in front of the huge building – he realized suddenly that he had no idea where to go.

He went inside and approached the multi-level information desk. It scanned him and quickly activated a Turian figured VI.

"How may I assist?"

"I'm looking for a Garrus Vakarian. I was told he was brought in from the Destroyer Relentless."

There was a pause as the VI ran through the files.

"There is no Vakarian under that name, sir."

His heart sunk. Was this some kind of cruel joke on someone's part. He knew it wasn't Esselen – she wasn't that kind. Before he could worry himself about it.

"Vakarian." Came a voice and he whirled. Striding towards him was a C-Sec officer he dimly recognized. Though not his mismatched armor – definitely not C-Sec.

"Yes?"

"This way." The Officer pointed towards a nearby bank of elevators.

"Have a good cycle, sir." The VI said as it faded back into a colored pattern. Castis had to jog to catch up to the man before he got to the elevators.

"Who are you?" Castis stopped in front the other man, blocking his way into the elevators.

"Officer Teskal Neest." The man went around him to signal a car. He glanced around once and then lowered his voice.

"I found your boy."

"Garrus?" Castis almost couldn't choke his name out.

"Yes." Neest hurried him into the elevator and closed the doors. Then pushed the button for the right floor.

"Where did you find him? How is he?" Castis demanded.

"Long Wall, the Alliance's old Relay 314 Space Station." Neest told him.

"What? How?" Castis mind was in a whirl. "What has the Alliance to do with my son?"

"Nothing. It's just where he ended up." Neest explained.

Castis was puzzled but the elevator stopped and Neest showed him out. They were on what looked to be a recovery floor. It was quiet except for the sounds of medical machines. Neest led the way down the hallway to a room midway from the nurse's station.

Neest paused and stopped him at the door. "He's in there. Be prepared he was pretty badly beaten, bones broken, plates cracked." Here he looked away for a moment. "They had a Varren control collar on him, Castis. Electrodes imbedded in his throat, rendering him voiceless."

Castis about choked at that. "Spirits, no."

"It's been removed and was deactivated on Long Wall." Neest sighed. "His voice is coming back but it's still thin. But he's feeling terribly shamed because he got taken. He feels he failed you and his mother."

"Spirits no. How could he? He saved his sister." Castis protested at that.

"That isn't exactly what you've instilled in him, Castis." Teskal was stern. "He thinks he has to be the perfect Turian. At that age none of us are."

"I..I.." Castis couldn't seem to say anything to that.

"Go see him and be his father not C-Sec." Teskal ordered. "I'll be down the hall.

With that he turned and stalked away.

Castis watched him go in confusion then turned and straightening up walked into the room.

The room was dimly lit, and he heard the sounds of several medical monitors beyond the curtains surrounding the only bed that was occupied. He could dimly see a silhouette through the curtains as he pushed them aside and stepped in.

Garrus lay quietly in the bed, propped up by specialty pillows to accommodate his cowl and yet undeveloped fringe.

After his eyes adjusted, Castis went cold at his core as he saw what Teskal had been talking about. Garrus was badly battered. He could see cracks radiating through several plates. One or two had plate casts to heal breaks. His boy's chest and neck were bandaged, indicating surgery had been performed.

The skin between his plates, all over his visible body, was dark almost black from bruising and scabs. His fingers were barely visible beneath bandages, wrappings, casts, and IV lines.

"Spirits." Castis breathed out. He was barely audible but somehow Garrus heard him and he started awake. Hurting himself and letting out a whispery groan.

"No, easy, Garrus don't." Castis stepped quickly over to the bed, to put a hand on his son's shoulder. He winced when he realized that there wasn't a place that wasn't bandaged or bruised.

Garrus's eyes fluttered open and he peered up at his dad. Finally recognition came with a thin whine of shame. Neest's words came back to him and he wanted to voice his own shame.

"Father." His voice was so faint and hoarse with pain. "I..I'm sorry..I."

"Garrus." Instantly he was bending his head to touch his forehead to his sons. "No shame, you did nothing wrong." He let go of his rigid control of his sub harmonics and let his fear, worry, happiness, and affection flow over Garrus.

Garrus pushed back against his forehead as best he could and hummed relief and exhaustion back at his father.

Minutes passed while the two remained in contact. Castis, instinctively, modulating his sub harmonics to a healing frequency. Though not as effective as modern medicine, still the ancient Turians had learned that certain sub harmonic frequencies could help with injuries and distress. It was something still used by parents and certain natural healers.

Garrus's sub harmonics became choppy and Castis realized that this position was painful for his son and he slowly, reluctantly stepped back; but he did not stop his sub harmonics.

"Fa…" Garrus began again as he wearily sank into the pillows.

"Shush, Garrus. Just rest and heal. Your mother will be here soon." He saw a worried look come into his son's eyes and heard a faint note of fear.

"Solana's with her and she's okay." Castis told him, guessing that's what he was worried about. "You did good, son. You protected your sister."

With a faint relieved trill, Garrus closed his eyes and drifted back into unconsciousness.

For a long time he just stood by his son's bed, letting his sub harmonics surround Garrus. Encouraging healing and strength; and letting his pride flow over his son.

He hadn't paid any attention to the time when.  
"Castis?" Came a rich voice that he recognized as Vassita.

He turned as she stepped through the curtains. Her face and her sub harmonics instantly registering her pain when she saw her son's battered body.

"Oh Garrus." She let go with a whine at his condition, and Castis put his arm around her to comfort her.

"Are you his parents?" Came a soft voice that made them both spin around. Castis instinctively went for his pistol and he could feel Vassita shifting to an attack position.

A pale blue Asari in a doctor's outfit stood in an opening in the curtains. She held up her hands to reassure them.

"Peace. I'm Doctor T'Seena."

"I..I'm sorry Doctor." Castis took his hand off his gun.

"Understandable. Officer Neest explained to me what happened." Here she looked at Garrus and Castis could feel that faint crawly electrical field that happened when a biotic was upset or angry.

"You have every right to be both upset and defensive." She went on.

"My apologies also, Doctor." Vassita looked at her son. "How is he?"

T'Seena sighed at that. "Your son has been very badly beaten. Along with the injuries that are visible, he has two broken ribs. We had to operate to stabilize them and to keep them from rubbing against his lungs. A couple of vertebrae are badly strained. One arm is broken and several fingers have been broken. And he has innumerable bruises and cuts."

Vassita let out a sub harmonic wail at that.

"He will recover Tome Vakarian." T'Seena assured her. "It will take some time and physical therapy but he is both young and strong."

"What of his voices?" That was Castis.

"They are healing." Came the prompt answer. "Fortunately the collar was not on him that long and whoever installed it, at least, knew what they were doing."

"A control collar?" Vassita hissed at that. "Who would do such a thing to a youngster."

"A coward." T'Seena's voice went hard.

The doctor spent time with them and with Garrus. Showing them what she had done and was doing for their boy, and how they could help.

Some time later, Castis left Vassie sitting by Garrus's bedside and went to look for Officer Neest who, surprisingly, Vassie had left Solana with. He trusted her feelings on that, she'd always had the ability to see into another person's heart. He couldn't explain it; but he knew it worked.

He found the other man, sitting in a lounge area with Solana curled up, sleeping beside him. Her favorite stuffed toy held tightly in her arms.

At the sound of footsteps, Neest straightened up, his hand settling on the butt of his gun.

Castis waved him off and picked up Solana, who only muttered and snuggled against him without waking, he sat down opposite the other man.

Castis settled his small daughter, he thought she was going to take more after her compact mother, against him and then looked up. Neest was quietly watching him.

"I..we thank you for rescuing Garrus." Castis told him.

Neest waved off his gratitude. "In truth it wasn't actually me that did it."

"Who then? I want to thank them." Castis was startled.

Here Neest rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "I didn't managed to get her name but it was an Alliance cadet…er I think they call them Privates."

"A HUMAN?" Castis didn't quite squawk but it was close.

"Yes a human." Neest gave him a cool look. "She helped him escape and was trying to get him up to the Alliance levels when I ran across them. Another private was the one who deactivated the collar."

Castis wasn't sure he believed that. Most of the humans he'd run across on the Citadel, few that there were, weren't particularly fond of his species. He couldn't think of one who would go out of their way to help a Turian. He decided to deal with this later.

"I need to keep Garrus safe while I find out who did this and bring him to justice." Casts changed the subject.

"Well Alliance said that when she found him some giant Turian was beating on him."

"Giant?" Castis's gizzard knotted at that. It couldn't be him.

"Did she find out his name?"

"Goelle, no…that's not it." Neest was obviously trying to remember.

"You mean." Castis voice had gone artic. "..Gojin?"

"That's it." Then Neest saw his face and heard the barely contained anger in his sub harmonics. "You know him."

Castis fought to keep his rage out of his sub harmonics to keep from waking Solana. "Enforcer, does not care who he works for or what he does. Usually used to make people pay up." Here he let out one bark of sub harmonics rage that made Solana whimper and shift. He soothed her, burying his rage.

"And he targets children!" Castis added in an angry whisper.

Neest's growl of rage echoed his.

"I tried to get him but he just fled the Citadel." Castis was still angry about that; but to find that Gojin had gone after his children in retaliation. For a few moments he seriously considered not living by the rules that governed his life and work; but then he realized that if he did that he would become no better than Gojin himself.

"When you go hunting, let me know." Neest stood up. "From the sounds of it – you'll need someone at your back."

Castis looked up at the man, now seeing the scars and a weariness to him. He didn't look like a man who was a 'good' Turian; but he also looked strong  
and determined..

"I will."

With a sharp nod Neest took his leave and Castis rose and with his sleeping daughter went to join his mate and his son.


	12. Chapter 12 - Coincidence

_Hi All. Happy mid of the week. This story has about come to an end; though there will be one more chapter. Which is unfortunate as I'm really enjoying writing it. I think though that I'm going to do a tale of Teskal and Castis working together. (Not a match made in Heaven.) More like the Odd Couple. Mr. By the Books and Mr.I don't give a pyjak's ass. As always thank you to everyone who's faved, followed, submitted a review or a comment. You make this all worth while. Have a terrific day._

* * *

Coincidences

 **Garrus**

Despite being off the grid on a special mission, still some mail and messages managed to get to him. A message from Solana, and one very soft, lumpy, and atrociously wrapped package.

"What on earth is that Garrus?" Shepard had come into the cargo hold while he was reading the letter attached to the package. Taking a break from repairing what ever damage Shepard had done to the MAKO this time. He was finding Geth parts in some of the strangest places.

"It's from an old friend in C-Sec." Garrus told her. "Says he found it at the bottom of a closet he was cleaning out in an old duffle."

"Sounds like a real organized guy." Shepard joked.

Garrus smiled at her. "Not really. Shared an office with my dad for a short time and drove him insane with all the stuff he had laying around."

Shepard snorted. "Why am I not surprised that your father would be a neat freak. Let me guess – _everything in its place and a place for everything."_

Garrus gave a startled clic. "How did you know?"

"Lucky guess." She chuckled. "Well, go ahead open it, unless it's something alive." She paused and eyed the package warily, unsure if it was just settling or actually moving. "It isn't is it?"

"No, Teskal isn't that dirty." Garrus was focused on the package and didn't see Shepard kind of start at the name.

Using his talons he carefully cut the over abundance of string and tape that had been used to wrap the thing. Or possibly contain it. Or possibly just done to annoy him. Teskal had always teased him about his neatness. No doubt because he got it from his father.

 **Shepard**

Meanwhile Shepard was running the name Teskal over in her mind. She knew it, recognized it; but she couldn't pin down from where.

Garrus finally got the string and the tape off, but not without getting some stuck to his talons. "Damn" He swore under his breath. "Stuff's almost as bad as tunnel tape."

"Tunnel tape? What the hell is that?" Shepard couldn't even image what that must look like or do.

Garrus hummed under his breath for a moment. "That's not the right word exactly. Grey stuff that every human engineer seems to have a roll of around somewhere."

"Oh you mean duct tape?" That made more sense to her, but she could see where tunnel tape came from – given translator approximations, which were sometimes not that approximate.

"Yeah." Garrus was distracted, trying to unwrap whatever it was from what seemed to be a boulder of wrapping paper.

"Your friend's not much of a gift wrapper." She commented, laughing quietly at his frustration as yet another layer of paper unfolded.

"We're lucky it's not in an evidence bag. He's been known to use those to mail stuff."

"Your father must have loved that." She snickered.

"No comment."

Losing patience Garrus finally grabbed one end of the paper and yanked sending the whole package spinning into the air and flinging the contents onto the ground.

It was a battered, dusty old jacket. An old model Alliance OD Jacket, she'd recognize those colors and that style anywhere. She'd gone through several of them in Basic. There were a couple of stains on it she thought might be oil, then she realized that they were probably Turian blood, dried Turian blood. What the?

"What the hell is your friend doing with an Alliance Off Duty jacket?"

Garrus had picked it up and was studying it with a look Shepard couldn't begin to decipher.

"It's mine." He replied quietly. "In a way."

"Yours?"

Garrus leaned against the MAKO, still holding the jacket. Shepard settled against a nearby crate.

"I was just barely through my first year of Basic." He was gently running his hand over the battered fabric. "I and my family, were visiting my dad on the Citadel." He sighed and looked off to the side. "Solana and I had snuck out to look at the Presidium lake when we realized that someone was trying to capture us."

His mandibles flared out then snapped back tight to his face. "I managed to hide her and lead them off; but got my inexperienced self caught." His mandibles pulled even tighter to his face if that was possible.

Meanwhile, Shepard's head was whirling. It couldn't be, it was impossible. Out of all the Turians in the Hierarchy, she had managed to become friends with the one Turian she'd always wanted to meet up with again. Now she remembered why Teskal's name had seemed familiar.

"Old enemy of my dads. I was hauled off to that old derelict space station the Alliance called Long Wall." He sighed. "Scrubbed off my colony paint, muzzled me, and put on a control collar, then he proceeded to beat the living crap out of me as you humans say, then tossed me in a service duct where I…"

"Ran into two Alliance Privates hiding from their own troubles." Shepard spoke up and Garrus jerked upright to stare at her in confusion.

"Yes. What? How?"

She stood up and stepped over to him and gently reached up to put two fingers where the electrodes from the collar would have been. He shivered when she did that. Now that she looked closer she could see two very faint scars.

"I always wondered what happened to you." She said softly looking up at her towering best friend. So very different from that scrawny, beat up, silent youngster she'd helped to rescue; and yet so very much alike.

Garrus's mouth literally gaped open in shock. "Alliance?"

"It's a small universe, isn't it, Scrappy?" She grinned at his surprise.


	13. Chapter 13 - Justice

_Greetings All. This is where Just Another Saturday Night ends. Chapter 13, rather fitting for Gojin. I figured this was the appropriate way to end this story. Sorry, I didn't go into a blow by blow battle scene, but I'm not much for that kind of thing. While this tale has ended I do want to do one of Castis and Teskal working together. (But not on chasing down Gojin.) Anyone got any suggestions for what the C-Sec odd couple could be working together on? If so drop me a line. I'll at least listen. I thank all of you who've faved, followed, reviewed or commented on this story. You are terrific._

* * *

Justice

Gojin thrashed awake to the stench and feel of rotting garbage, decaying flesh, and things dissolving back into their base components. Where in Spirit's name was he.

That last he remembered he'd been moving down one of Omega's many twisting, trash filled alleys with his latest 'job'. Some Salarian who hadn't paid a small time blackmailer the money he owed. The Blackmailer had hired Gojin, though he didn't go by that name here on Omega, to deliver a lesson.

Lesson! Had those damn kids tripped him up somehow and made him hit his head. He was going to take extra time with them.

"You're finally awake." Came a deep flanging voice. "Was about ready to dump something liquid on you." Absently Gojin shuddered at what that might have been given where they were.

He was about to snarl back at the other man when the tone, and lack of sub harmonics, registered. This wasn't anyone he knew; and if he was keeping his sub harmonics suppressed – not someone he wanted to know. Only those with something to hide blocked their subs.

He crawled to his feet, flinching as he put his hands in things that ballooned and popped, showering him with rot and decay. He knew where he was now – the TIP – the place where all of Omega's garbage came to be disposed of. Some of it less than willingly.

Staggering upright, he faced the owner of the voice.

The other man was sitting calmly on relatively clean crate buried in the midst of a station's worth of garbage. An adult male from the bulk of the shoulders and the height. Not as tall and broad as Gojin but not an easy opponent either. He was wearing deep cobalt blue heavy armor and a darkened helmet. Over his back, Gojin could see the stock of a powerful sniper rifle. For a moment he froze then realized that if the stranger had wanted him dead, he'd already be dead.

"Who in Spirit's name are you?" He looked around, but couldn't see anyone else.

"Later." Came the same cold voice.

Now, getting a better look at the man, Gojin saw an insignia on his right arm. Two lines surmounting a very stylized bird, all in a deep golden yellow. He realized that he dimly recognized that insignia. He'd seen it painted on different walls in some of the wards; but he couldn't remember what it meant.

"Where are the two kids that were with me?" Gojin demanded.

There was a sudden sub harmonic growl that the armor couldn't quite dampen.

"Headed back to their parents." The stranger straightened up, then stood up.

"Now I'm going to have to catch them again you stupid pyjak." Gojin spat at him, irritated.

"No." The voice was colder than outer space. On the heels of that the other man took off his rifle, carefully laying it down on the crate, then began to remove his upper armor.

"Not interested." Gojin told him, looking around for a way out.

"No choice." Came the reply. "The only way you get out is through me."

"What the fuck is your problem?"

"You!" The other man had removed everything but his helmet. With the top half of his armor gone, his sub harmonics were clearly audible. They were coldly angry.

"There is no place on this station – in this galaxy for someone who preys on children." His rage spiked and Gojin began to reconsider how bad this situation might be.

"They're just kids – no one gives a damn."

"I do, Gojin." There was a snarl from under the helmet.

That caught him off guard. No one knew his name on Omega, he'd made sure of that. Except perhaps Aria, but then she knew everything.

"Who's Gojin? My name is…."

"Gojin Dregus…cheap enforcer for anyone who can pay. No talent, no skills, and no morals." The other man shot back.

"How in Spirit's name do you know that?" Gojin was surprised. He'd buried his real self and name decades ago.

"C-Sec." Two hands rose towards the darkened helmet.

"You're not C-Sec." Gojin jeered at him. "They don't come here."

"No, but the man who got the info was one of their best." With that the helmet was lifted clear.

He found himself facing a young male, Silver grey plates, greyish tan skin and blue eyes, wearing a blue visor that covered one eye. And cobalt blue colony markings that looked somehow familiar. Then he flashed back to an older male in C-Sec blue.

"Vakarian!"

"Good." There was no smile behind that comment. "You remember."

"Which member of that pathetic clan are you?" Gojin was still angry with Vakarian for chasing him off the Citadel and a host of other things. This youngster didn't scare him.

With that Vakarian pulled something from a pocket in his armor and threw it at Gojin's feet. When it rolled to a stop, he got a good look at it. It was an old model Varren control collar.

"Is that…" He paused as he remembered one of the last times he'd really used that type of collar, because they were too easy to hack and/or get out of. "You!"

"Yes."

It was Vakarian's kid. One of the few to ever get away and survive. And cold fingers grabbed his spine because it looked like he was out for payback.

He'd never really faced one of his old victims, one that was physically his equal. He'd always preyed on those weaker than him. If he could have run, he would have.

"How'd you get away?" Gojin stalled trying to look for a way out.

"A good friend from the Alliance." Came the quiet reply then Vakarian shook his head. He carefully removed his visor and set it by his rifle.

"The sniper is bio-locked to me, so won't open for you." He said without turning around.

"It was just business." Gojin lied.

"No." Vakarian turned around. "You enjoyed it too much for it to be business. Business is leaving children alone, business is a clean kill not torturing and beating. No, this was always about more than business for you."

"So what? There are always more kids." Gojin taunted the man hoping he could get past him if he charged; but Vakarian didn't move, except to pull a long combat knife from it's hidden spot in his armor.

"I'm not armed." Gojin wanted to back up; but knew he couldn't show the other man any fear.

A second knife appeared from nowhere and was thrown at him.

"I'll give you a fighting chance." There was a long pause and cold blue eyes locked with his. "Something you never did."

Vakarian stood quietly while Gojin picked up the knife. The older man knew how to use one but the way the younger man stood said that he'd had much more experience with it.

"What name should I list you in my kills as." Gojin tried a bluff. Throwing in a snarl to back it up. Though if he'd been human he'd of been sweating.

"Who I was does not matter anymore." Came the ice-cold reply. "Now I go by a different name – as you do."

"Oh and what's that?" Gojin pushed distain in his sub harmonics. But Vakarian seemed immune to whatever Gojin was putting out.

Cold rage rolled through Vakarian's sub harmonics as he answered. "Archangel."


End file.
